SB 507

This bill restores the law as it existed prior to the enactment of

2013 Wisconsin

Act 115

governing the use of race-based nicknames, logos, mascots, and team names

by school boards and authorizes the Department of Public Instruction to award a

grant to a school board that terminates the use of a race-based nickname, logo,

mascot, or team name that is associated with a federally recognized American Indian

tribe or American Indians.

Under current law, a complaint to object to a school board's use of a race-based

nickname, logo, mascot, or team name must include the signatures of at least the

number of school district residents that is equal to 10 percent of the school district's

membership, and the signatures must be obtained within the 120-day period before

the complaint is filed. The bill eliminates this requirement. Under the bill, the state

superintendent of public instruction must immediately review a complaint

submitted by a school district resident and determine whether the use of the

nickname or team name by the school board, alone or in connection with a logo or

mascot, is ambiguous as to whether it is race-based.

Under current law, the Division of Hearings and Appeals is required to hold a

hearing on a complaint objecting to a school board's use of a race-based nickname,

logo, mascot, or team name. Under the bill, unless the state superintendent

determines that a contested case hearing is not necessary or otherwise postpones the

hearing, the state superintendent must hold a hearing within 45 days of receiving

such a complaint. The bill also reverses the burden of proof at a hearing challenging

the use of a race-based nickname, logo, mascot, or team name so that the burden is

on the school board to demonstrate that the nickname, logo, mascot, or team name

does not promote discrimination, pupil harassment, or stereotyping.

Under current law, the state superintendent may forego a hearing on a

complaint if a school board demonstrates that a federally recognized American

Indian tribe that has historical ties to this state has, under an agreement with the

school board, approved the school board's use of the nickname, logo, mascot, or team

name. The bill restricts the state superintendent's authority to forego a hearing to

only those situations in which the American Indian tribe that is referenced, depicted,

or portrayed in the nickname, logo, mascot, or team name approved the use.

Under current law, a school district is prohibited from being a member of an

interscholastic athletic association that bars a member from using a race-based

nickname, logo, mascot, or team name unless the use violates a decision and order

issued on or after December 21, 2013. The bill eliminates this prohibition. The bill

also eliminates a prohibition against the state superintendent promulgating rules

that create a presumption of what constitutes a race-based nickname, logo, mascot,

or team name that promotes discrimination, pupil harassment, or stereotyping.