The 23 schools in Massachusetts that use an image of an indigenous person as their school mascot would have to start looking for new names and logos under a bill that advocates are hoping will get passed this session.

After years of contentious debate over Native American mascots in school districts, some indigenous activists say it’s time to take the decision out of local hands.

“Unfortunately, today, the remaining schools with native mascots are stubbornly attached to controlling our native identities, which they’re using against our permission,” said Rhonda Anderson, a Iñupiaq – Athabascan Native American and western Massachusetts representative on the state Commission on Indian Affairs.

The Rep. Brandy Fluker Oakley and Sen. Joanne Comerford bill would require that the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education bar Massachusetts public schools from using an athletic team or school mascot name that represents or is associated with Native Americans, or denigrates any racial, ethnic, gender or religious group.

It includes a carve-out to allow indigenous tribes to use a Native-related name or logo, as well as for tribes to give explicit consent for a school to use their name.

When Anderson began advocating to remove these mascots from schools 25 years ago, there were over 90 districts in Massachusetts that used a Native American on their logo, she said.

Today there are 23 Bay State schools that continue to use indigenous mascots, nicknames or logos, according to the New England Anti-Mascot Coalition, including the Billerica Memorial High School Indians, The High School of Commerce in Springfield’s Red Raiders, and the Middleborough High School Sachems.