The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - A Bush administration advisory commission rejected a proposal Thursday to overhaul the landmark gender-equity law credited with igniting a women's sports explosion. But some women's groups said the panel opened the door to such changes.

The Commission on Opportunity in Athletics considered about two dozen recommendations for Title IX during two days of meetings. The most sweeping recommendations failed to pass - one proposal produced a 7-7 tie - but the panel endorsed allowing the Education Department to tinker with the ways students and athletes are counted to measure compliance with the law.

"It's very obvious that everyone recognizes that there needs to be change, and this is a great first step," said Mike Moyer, the executive director of the National Wrestling Coaches Association.

"It will certainly stem further loss of programs," said Moyer, whose organization has filed a lawsuit claiming Title IX has led to the elimination of hundreds of men's sports teams.

The advisory commission will forward its report to Education Secretary Rod Paige. It takes an act of Congress to fundamentally change the law, but Paige can alter the way compliance is measured.

Title IX prohibits gender discrimination in public and private schools that receive federal funding, which almost all do. It covers admissions, recruitment, course offerings, counseling, financial aid, student health and student housing, as well as athletics.

The commission looked only at sports, where the law's effect has been profound. The number of girls participating in high school sports rose from 294,000 in 1971 to 2.8 million in 2002. The number of women in college sports increased fivefold during the same time.

But about 400 men's college teams were eliminated during the 1990s, as schools attempted to meet standards requiring a ratio of male and female athletes similar to the overall student population.

The commission recommended changes to a standard that allows schools to comply by having a male-female athlete ratio that is "substantially proportionate" to its male-female enrollment. The changes deal with roster spots, nonscholarship athletics and nontraditional students.

"The commission has opened the door for the secretary to do a lot of damage to Title IX," said Donna Lopiano, executive director of the Women's Sports Foundation. "They changed the way of counting collegiate participation. The number of male athletes will be deflated; the number of female athletes will be inflated."

One change would establish a predetermined number of roster spots on each team that count toward Title IX compliance, rather than the actual number of athletes.

Commission co-chairman Ted Leland said the rule would prevent a school from stacking "100 women on the rowing team" to comply with the law.

Critics countered that the rule could allow a school to add scores of male athletes - notably non-scholarship walk-ons - beyond the preset limits without them counting toward Title IX compliance.