Which Fresno-area schools are impacted by upcoming mascot bill? Here are the details
A new law goes into effect July 1 that affects California public schools with mascots or team names that reference Native Americans, impacting several sites in the Fresno area.
According to Assembly Bill 3074, all California public schools not operated by tribal organizations cannot use “any derogatory Native American term” to represent school mascots or athletic teams.
Before the new rule goes into effect this week, Fresno Unified announced new mascots for three elementary schools. Another approach is getting permission from a registered tribe to maintain the mascots in question, which Clovis Unified did for a middle school in December.
Here are the high schools in the greater Fresno area whose mascots could undergo change:
- Sanger High School Apaches
- Sierra High School Chieftains
- Farmersville High School Aztecs
- Mendota High School Aztecs
- Chowchilla Union High School Tribe
- Tulare Union High School Tribe
Most of these schools received permission from registered Native American tribes to keep their names — some well before the July 1, 2026, deadline. The North Fork Rancheria Mono Tribe allowed Sanger High and Chowchilla Union High to keep their mascots.
Sierra High got permission from the North Fork Mono Tribe and the Big Sandy Mono Tribe.
The Tule River Tribe allowed Tulare Union High to keep its current mascot.
A spokesperson for Mendota High said the school was still trying to figure out its mascot situation. Representatives for Farmersville Unified did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
