AB 103 — Relating to: school board policies related to changing a pupil’s legal name and pronouns.

-Date 2026of LEGISLATUREenactment: LRB-1245/1 FFK:cdc ASSEMBLY BILL 103 March 4, 2025 - Introduced by Representatives D ITTRICH , BEHNKE , B.

JACOBSONAssembly ,Bill K103 REIBICHDate ,of MAXEYpublication*: , O'CONNOR , TUSLER and M URSAU , cosponsored by Senator J ACQUE .

ReferredWISCONSIN ACT A N A CT to Committeecreate on118.1255 Education.of the statutes;

A N A CT to create 118.1255 of the statutes;

AnalysisThe bypeople theof Legislative Reference Bureau By July 1, 2026, this bill requires school boards to adopt 1) a policy related to the conditionsstate underof whichWisconsin, arepresented school board will change a pupil’s legal name or legal name and pronouns in officialsen- school1. records (legal name and pronoun records policy) and 2) a policy related to the conditions under which a school board will allow school staff to regularly use or refer to a minor pupil by a name other the pupil’s legal name or by pronouns other than the pronouns provided at the time the pupil first enrolled in the school district (name and pronoun usage policy).

TheFor bill requires that a schoolminor boardpupil, includethe certainpupil’s provisionsparent inor itsguardian legalate name and pronounassembly, recordsdo policy.enact as follows:

Undersubmits theto bill, a school board’s legal name and pronoun record policy must include 1) that the initial determination is made by the principal of the school the pupil attends, 2) that the principal may only approve the change if the documentation of a legalwritten, namenotarized changestatement is provided or, if such documentation is not provided, an affidavit is provided stating, among other things, that the pupil legally changed the pupil’s name and that it was not for a fraudulent purpose or to interfere with the rights of others, 3) for a minor pupil, a requirement that the school board make a reasonable attempt to provide each of the minor pupil’s parents and legal guardians with an opportunity to provide information in - 2026 Legislature - 2 - LRB-1245/1 FFK:cdc ASSEMBLY BILL 103 SECTION 11. favor of or against approving the requested change;

and118.1255 4)of athe processstatutes tois appealcreated ato principal’srequesting decisionthat tothe denypupil’s aname, requestpronouns, toor thename schooland board.read:

Thepronouns, billbe alsochanged specifiesin provisionsthe thatpupil’s aofficial schoolrecords boardand must118.1255 includePupil in its name change and pronoun usageusage; policy.

Underincludes thein bill, a school board’s name and pronoun usage policy must 1) state that a minor pupil’s parent or legal guardian determines the namesstatement and pronouns school staff are allowed use to refer to the minorrequested pupilname, duringpronouns, schoolor hoursname and 2)pronouns. prohibit school staff from referring to a minor pupil by a name or pronoun that does not align with the pupil’s biological sex without written authorization from the pupil’s parent or guardian.

A name and pronoun usage policy does not need to require written authorization for school staff to use a shortened version of a minor pupil’s legal first or middle name to refer to the pupil.

Finally, the bill explicitly states that nothing in the bill may be construed to limit the rights of pupils, parents, or guardians under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, the federal law the protects pupil records.

The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

118.1255 of the statutes is created to read:

118.1255 Pupil name change and pronoun usage;

118.125 (1)2. (d).

(2)For By July 1, 2026, each school board shall adopt a policypupil relatedwho tois the18 conditionsyears underof whichage theor schoololder, board will do each of the following:(1) (d).

(a)pupil Changesubmits to the principal a pupil’swritten, legalnotarized namestate- or(2) By July 1, 2026, each school board shall adopt a ment requesting that the pupil’s legalname, pronouns, or policy related to the conditions under which the school name and pronounspronouns, be changed in the pupil’s official schoolboard records.will do each of the following:

(b)(a) AllowChange school board employees to regularly use or refer to a pupil who is a minor by a name other than the pupil’s legal name or bya pronounspupil’s otherlegal thanrecords theand pronounsincludes providedin at the timestatement the pupilrequested firstname, enrollspronouns, inor thename schooland district.pronouns.

(3)name Aand schoolpronouns board shall include at least all of the following in aofficial policyschool adoptedrecords. under sub.

(e) A principal or school administrator may not (b) Allow school board employees to regularly use change a pupil’s legal name or pronouns in official or refer to a pupil who is a minor by a name other than school records unless the policy adopted under sub.

(2) the pupil’s legal name or by pronouns other than the pronouns provided at the time the pupil first enrolls in (a) and any procedures developed to implement the pol- the school district.

icy have been followed.

(f) A procedure under which a parent, legal (3) A school board shall include at least all of the guardian, or pupil may appeal the denial of a request to following in a policy adopted under sub.

-change 2026the Legislaturepupil’s -legal 3name -or LRB-1245/1the FFK:cdcpupil’s ASSEMBLYlegal BILLname 103 SECTION 1 (a) An initial request to change a pupil’s legal name or pronouns on official school records shall be made to and pronouns in official school records to the school the principal of the school the pupil attends.

(b)board. A pupil’s official school records shall be maintained under a pupil’s legal name and the pronouns provided at the time the pupil first enrolls in the school district, unless any of the following apply:

1.A school board shall treat an appeal under this (b) A pupil’s official school records shall be main- paragraph in the same manner as a request to correct or tained under a pupil’s legal name and the pronouns pro- delete information in official school records that is inac- vided at the time the pupil first enrolls in the school dis- curate, misleading, or otherwise in violation of the pri- trict, unless the following apply:

Avacy pupil’srights parent or guardian submits a request to change the pupil’s name in official school records due to a change in the pupil’s legal name in writing and provides documentation of thestudents pupil’sunder legal20 nameUSC change.1232g.

2.* Section 991.11, ISCONSINSTATUTES :

IfEffective adate pupil or the pupil’s parent or guardian does not provide documentation of theacts. pupil’s legal name change and the pupil is 18 years of age or older, the pupil provides an affidavit that includes the pupil’s former legal name and the pupil’s new legal name and affirms all of the following:

a.“Every act and every portion of an act enacted by the legislature over the gov- ernor's partial veto which does not expressly prescribe the time when it takes effect shall take effect on the day after its date of publication.” Wisconsin Act - 2 - 2025 Assembly Bill 103 (4) A school board shall include at least all of the a written, notarized authorization from the pupil’s par- following in a policy adopted under sub.

The pupil has changed the pupil’s legal name.

b.

The pupil consistently uses the new legal name for all official purposes.

c.

The pupil is not a registered sex offender.

d.

The pupil has not changed the pupil’s legal name for a fraudulent purpose or in order to interfere with the rights of others.

3.