School District Liability Under Title IX ' Part I: Gebser v. Lago Vista

• Published date: 24 July 2023
• Subject Matter: Employment and HR, Consumer Protection, Discrimination, Disability & Sexual Harassment, Education
• Law Firm: Cranfill Sumner
• Author: Jack Wright

An interesting aspect of municipal law, recently discussed at this year's DRI Civil Rights and Governmental Tort Liability Seminar, concerns school district liability pursuant to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. Per the U.S. Department of Education, Title IX prohibits discrimination based on sex in education programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance, specifically providing, "[n]o person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance[.]"

The scope of Title IX liability for school districts, and the potential damages they face, continues to evolve within our court system, especially in the face of changing technology. This is the first in a series of articles that seeks to provide an overview of relevant Title IX precedent, where such litigation currently stands and where it may go in the future. The focus of this first article is the case Gebser v. Lago Vista Independent School Dist., 524 U.S. 274 (1998), in which the Supreme Court resolved an ongoing conflict within our circuit courts and established the current legal standard utilized to impose liability on a school district for Title IX violations by an employee of that school district.

FACTS

Alida Star Gebser, a high school student in the Lago Vista Independent School District, had a sexual relationship with one of her teachers. Gebser did not report the relationship to school officials. After the couple was discovered having sex, the teacher was arrested and the school district terminated his employment. Before the discovery of the relationship, the high school's principal received multiple complaints that the same teacher made sexually suggestive remarks to students from the parents of two other students. When confronted, the teacher apologized for the comments and was warned about his conduct, and the principal did not investigate the matter further. Gebser and her mother filed suit raising, among other things, a claim for damages against the school district under Title IX.

The Federal District Court granted the school district's motion for summary judgment. In rejecting the Title IX claim against the school district, the court reasoned that the statute "was enacted to counter policies of discrimination . . . in federally funded education programs," and that "[o]nly if school...