With many Wisconsin schools using tribal or Native American mascots, a group of Republican Wisconsin legislators proposed a bill to modify the procedure by which school districts are forced to change their mascots based on discrimination.
The new bill would overturn the procedure set in 2010 that allows for individual complaints regarding discriminatory mascots to trigger a hearing by the Department of Public Instruction.
Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester; Rep. Stephen Nass, R-Whitewater; Rep. Dave Craig, R-Big Bend; and Sen. Mary Lazich, R-New Berlin, said in a statement Thursday they plan to address the procedure to change mascots in the bill.
“These changes are reasonable and address concerns brought forth by all parties,” Vos said in the statement. “It puts the proper mechanism in place for appeals from the community without putting an undue burden on school districts.”
In the statement, Craig said the bill ensures a complaint from a single or a small group of citizens would not affect the whole community.
The most significant change the new bill proposes is the shift of burden of proof from the school district to the complaining group. As a result, the school district would no longer be forced to defend itself against charges of discrimination, but rather the group complaining would have to provide concrete evidence the school’s mascot is perpetuating discrimination against Native Americans or other related groups.
The bill would also create a course of action for objections to a school’s use of a tribal mascot, which includes a petition to be signed by at least 10 percent of the district’s student population with signatures obtained 120 days in advance of the complaint being filed. In the event a petition is filed, the Department of Administration’s Division of Hearings and Appeals will hold a hearing for the complaint.
Strong opponents of the rewriting of the bill have emerged, including Barbara Munson, a member of the Wisconsin Indian Education Association and a prominent advocate for the bill in 2010 restricting race-based mascots.
“I would say this particular law is not constitutional and in fact is racist,” Munson said. “This law is a form of discrimination.”
Mukwonago Area School District, a district ordered to change its mascot and logo in 2010 by the DPI, has refused to comply and now is paying $1,000 per day in fines from DPI.
The school district expressed its support for the bill in a statement, as it finds the the rewritten legislation demonstrates a greater balance between the constitutional rights of residents and the preservation of school district control.
According to the statement, if the nickname and logo of Mukwonago High School were changed, Mukwonago residents would pay between $50,000 and $100,000 for the change.
Lazich said in the statement the bill would avoid imposing heavy costs to change the mascot and logo on school districts.
Mike Mikalsen, Nass’s spokesperson, said the bill will facilitate conversation between tribes and school districts.
“The bill will allow for tribes and school districts to sit down and talk about what is appropriate,” Nass said in the statement.
Nass added in the statement the use of the word “Indian” is not discriminatory to tribes.
Calls to Lazich were not returned.
