Education Program
School Bullying: Legislation and Laws
2005 Enacted Legislation
Tennessee
HB 2114/SB 1621
Requires each Local Education Agency (LEA) to adopt a policy that prohibits harassment, intimidation, or bullying and to forward a copy of the policy to the commissioner of education by January 1, 2006; encourages school employees, volunteers, and students to report incidents of harassment, intimidation or bullying to the appropriate school authorities; provides school employee who promptly report an incident of harassment, intimidation, or bullying immunity against any suit based upon the reporting employee's failure to remedy the reported act; and encourages school districts to form harassment, intimidation or bullying prevention programs and task forces.
Virginia
HB 2266
Directs the Board of Education to include bullying in its standards for school board policies on student conduct and requires school boards to include (i) instruction on the inappropriateness of bullying in their character education programs and (ii) bullying provisions in their student conduct codes. In addition, the measure requires the reporting of incidents of stalking to principals and division superintendents. Finally, except as may be prohibited by federal law, regulation, or jurisprudence, principals must report certain violent acts, stalking, and other conduct to parents of the minor student who is the target of the conduct; included in this report is disclosure that the incident has been reported to law enforcement, and that the parent may contact law enforcement for further information. This bill is identical to HB 2879 (Marshall, R.G.).
HB 2267
Civil immunity; school employees or volunteers reporting alleged acts of bullying or crimes. Immunizes school employees or volunteers from civil liability for the prompt good faith reporting to the appropriate school official, in compliance with specified procedures, of any alleged acts of bullying or any crimes.
2004 Enacted Legislation
New Hampshire
HB 1162
Requires school districts to notify the parents or legal guardians of the district’s policies on bullying and requires that a report of any bullying incidents be made by telephone and by a written report sent by mail to the parent or legal guardian of the pupils involved.
Vermont
HB 629
Directs schools to include bullying in their policies for responding to misconduct on and off school grounds; and directs the commissioner of education to update model policies on student discipline to include a definition of bullying, a process for reporting acts of bullying, and responses to bullying.
Harassment Legislation
Vermont
HB 113
Makes a variety of changes to the guidelines for harassment policies that educational institutions are required to maintain. The general definition of harassment is expanded to include written or visual conduct and conduct motivated by a student’s perceived as well as actual membership in a protected category. Racial harassment is defined to mean conduct directed at the characteristics of a student’s or a student’s family member’s actual or perceived race or color and includes the use of epithets, stereotypes, racial slurs, comments, insults, derogatory remarks, gestures, threats, graffiti, displays, or circulations of written or visual material, and taunts on manner of speech and negative references to racial customs.
Virginia
HB1331
Relating to including hazing in the Board's guidelines and model policies for and school boards' regulations on codes of student conduct.
Archived Legislation
Select School Safety Enactments (1994-2003): Bulling and Student Harassment
National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL)
By Finessa Ferrell-Smith
|
SCHOOL BULLYING LAWS
|
|
STATE/TERRITORY |
CITATION |
|
Arkansas |
A.C.A § 6-18-514 (2004) |
| Arizona |
HB 2368
|
|
California |
Cal Ed Code § 32261, 32265, 32270, 35294.21 |
|
Colorado |
C.R.S § 22-32-109.1 (2004) |
|
Connecticut |
Conn. Gen. Stat. § 10-222d (2003) |
|
Georgia |
O.C.G.A. § 20-2-751.4 (2004) |
|
Guam |
17 G.C.A § 3112.1 |
|
Illinois |
105 ILCS 5/10-20.14 (2004) |
|
Louisiana |
La. R.S. 17:416.13 (2004) |
|
New Hampshire |
RSA 193-F3 (2004) |
|
New Jersey |
N.J. Stat § 18A:37-13 (2004) |
|
New York |
NY CLS Educ § 2801-a (2004) |
|
Oklahoma |
70 Okl. St. § 24-100.3-5 (2004) |
|
Oregon |
ORS § 339.356 |
|
Puerto Rico |
L.P.R.A § 149f (2002) |
|
Rhode Island |
R.I. Gen Laws § 16-21-24 (2004) |
|
Vermont |
16 V.S.A. § 565 (2004) |
|
Virginia |
Va. Code § 22.1-208.01, 22.1-279.3:1, 22.1-279.6 (2005) |
|
Washington |
Rev. Code Wash. (ARCW) § 28A.300.285 (2004) |
|
West Virginia |
W. Va Code § 18-2C-1-5 (2004) |
Source: NCSL 2005
Visitor counts for this page.
 Education Progrma
|
