The 2023-24 state budget — now more than four weeks later — isn’t likely to include funding to help 60 public school districts change their Native American mascots.

The state Board of Regents recently approved, without discussion, regulations prohibiting names, logos or mascots inspired by Native American imagery. Roughly 60 schools, including Jamestown, have until June to adopt and send a plan to the state showing how they will remove Native American imagery by the end of the 2024-25 school year. Spectrum News 1, citing anonymous legislative leaders, reported Monday that additional aid is unlikely in the 2023-24 budget that is still being negotiated by Gov. Kathy Hochul and Senate and Assembly leaders. Sen. Shelley Mayer, D-Port Chester and Senate Education Committee chairwoman, told Spectrum News 1 additional aid could be approved in the 2024-25 budget. Paul Abbott, Jamestown Public Schools board president, estimated in March the cost to Jamestown could be in the tens of thousands of dollars.

Assemblyman Matt Slater, R-Yorktown,, and Sen. Alexis Weik, R-Bayshore, have introduced legislation (A.4966/S.6439) that would pay the costs of selecting a new mascot, designing new mascot names and logos and replacing uniforms, marquees or areas of buildings, athletic fields, courts, vehicles or other areas of a school featuring logos or mascots. That legislation has not moved since it was introduced in the Assembly in February. Weik introduced her bill April 20.

“On April 18, 2023, the New York State Board of Regents unanimously voted to prohibit public schools from using Native American-themed mascots, logos, and names and to remove any existing Native American references from uniforms, scoreboards, fields, buildings and any other facilities on public school property,” Weik wrote in her legislative justification. “In addition to erasing Native American identity, the schools affected by this new law will have to pay for the additional state-mandated costs of the transition with local school budget funds, diverting needed resources away from other pressing education priorities. It is only fitting and proper that the NYS Education Department reimburse our local school districts for the costs of implementing this state-mandated policy.”

But in a supporting memorandum for last week’s Board of Regents meeting, state Education Department staff pushed back on that idea. A memorandum by Angelique Johnson-Dingle referred to a public comment on the state’s ban on Native American mascots about the cost to do so. The state’s response is the prohibiting offensive and stereotpyical imagery outweighs any costs but also blames districts state officials say should have planned better. The memorandum does point school districts toward projects that use state building aid to pay the cost of removing the now-banned imagery from buildings, signs, gym floors and sports fields. Aid is available for projects costing at least $10,000.

There had been some confusion whether or not Jamestown would have to end its association with the nickname Raiders because the district had already retired any Native American imagery associated with the Red Raider, moving over the years from a Native American caricature to a block ‘J’ with a feather to, this year, a red panther that district officials said had previously been used as a JHS mascot predating the use of any Native American imagery. State Education Department officials told the district recently the use of the term “Raiders” would not be allowed.

“Additonally, as other commenters explained, most of these expenses could have been avoided by phasing out team names, mascots or logos decades ago,” the memorandum states. “Thus, as the commenter explains, the district’s claims of sudden, unexpected costs could have been mitigated, if not avoided, with better planning.”