The issue of bullying rose on state legislative agendas this year, with 21 states passing anti-bullying laws—some of which expanded schools’ responsibilities to keep a check on any harassment that goes on among their students.
States set out to write clear definitions of bullying and to regulate school policies and responsibilities in reaction to the U.S. Department of Education’s stepped-up focus on the behavior, renewed public concerns following a series of high-profile student suicides, and an increase in cyberbullying.
The most far-reaching of the new crop of laws is arguably New Jersey’s
, which requires each school to have an anti-bullying specialist and to report incidents to the state.
Laws passed this year by other states vary in their scope and prescriptiveness, reflecting debate about the respective roles of state, local, and federal governments in dealing with school issues like bullying.
But anti-bullying legislation is a relatively new priority, and legislatures are still refining their strategies.
“In 2005, there were fewer policies, and they were all over the place. In 2011, we’re seeing greater consistency. … Some requirements for schools are increasing, and there’s greater specificity about what constitutes bullying,” said Jennifer Dounay Zinth, a senior policy analyst for the Denver-based Education Commission of the States.
States began passing anti-bullying laws in earnest in the early 2000s, according to Josh Cunningham, a research analyst for the National Conference of State Legislatures, also in Denver. By late 2005, 17 states had passed anti-bullying legislation. By last week, only Michigan, Montana, and South Dakota had no such laws, according to the ECS.
In addition to states like North Dakota that adopted anti-bullying bills for the first time this year, many states that already had such laws in place strengthened or revised their requirements for schools this year, including California, where three bills involving bullying were signed into law last week.