MADISON - The Assembly Education Committee has set a date to vote on a bill that could force schools to change their nicknames, logos or school names if they are determined offensive.
The bill, proposed in February by Rep. Jim Soletski, D-Green Bay, could require school districts that use Indian names to change their name, nickname, mascot and logo if a district resident complains.
Rep. Brett Davis, R-Oregon, a committee member, said the bill will be voted on at 10 a.m. Tuesday, March 24.
The Education Committee is chaired by Rep. Sondy Pope-Roberts, D-Middleton.
"I expect she has enough votes for the bill to pass," Davis said.
Rep. Steve Hilgenberg, D-Dodgeville, is a bill co-sponsor and serves on the Education Committee. The committee had a four-and-half-hour public hearing on the bill Tuesday. After the hearing, Davis said the bill could also force districts, perhaps like Black Hawk, to change school names.
"There is a chance Black Hawk would have to change its name," Davis said.
The bill calls for the state Department of Public Instruction to investigate complaints about race-based names, nicknames, logos or mascots. Complaints about the name would have to be made by a district resident. School boards would have a chance to argue the logos or mascots don't discriminate or amount to harassment or stereotyping.
If the state superintendent finds the complaint has merit, the school board would be ordered to drop the offending moniker within a year or face $100 to $1,000 in fines each day it continues to use the logo.
The bill also has support among Democrats, who control both houses of the Legislature and Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan, D-Janesville, has signed on a co-sponsor. The bill would need Gov. Jim Doyle's signature to become law. He issued an opinion as attorney general in 1992 saying an American Indian logo or mascot could constitute discrimination.
The bill, proposed in February by Rep. Jim Soletski, D-Green Bay, could require school districts that use Indian names to change their name, nickname, mascot and logo if a district resident complains.
Rep. Brett Davis, R-Oregon, a committee member, said the bill will be voted on at 10 a.m. Tuesday, March 24.
The Education Committee is chaired by Rep. Sondy Pope-Roberts, D-Middleton.
"I expect she has enough votes for the bill to pass," Davis said.
Rep. Steve Hilgenberg, D-Dodgeville, is a bill co-sponsor and serves on the Education Committee. The committee had a four-and-half-hour public hearing on the bill Tuesday. After the hearing, Davis said the bill could also force districts, perhaps like Black Hawk, to change school names.
"There is a chance Black Hawk would have to change its name," Davis said.
The bill calls for the state Department of Public Instruction to investigate complaints about race-based names, nicknames, logos or mascots. Complaints about the name would have to be made by a district resident. School boards would have a chance to argue the logos or mascots don't discriminate or amount to harassment or stereotyping.
If the state superintendent finds the complaint has merit, the school board would be ordered to drop the offending moniker within a year or face $100 to $1,000 in fines each day it continues to use the logo.
The bill also has support among Democrats, who control both houses of the Legislature and Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan, D-Janesville, has signed on a co-sponsor. The bill would need Gov. Jim Doyle's signature to become law. He issued an opinion as attorney general in 1992 saying an American Indian logo or mascot could constitute discrimination.