House lawmakers push school bullying prevention

A bipartisan duo of House member want schools to explicitly prohibit bullying based on traits like race and sexual orientation in their codes of conduct.

Reps. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) and Chris Gibson (R-N.Y.) have introduced legislation that would require school districts that receive funding through the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to establish policies that ban bullying on the basis of race, nationality, gender, sexual orientation or religion.

“The Safe Schools Improvement Act will give parents like me some peace of mind to know all our children have an educational environment where they can learn without the threat of harassment,” Sanchez said in a statement.

{mosads}The bill would require school districts to provide annual notice of the code of conduct to students, parents and educational professionals, as well as publicly report the frequency of bullying incidents.

It would further authorize the Department of Education to collect data from states and evaluate the effectiveness of anti-bullying programs in elementary and secondary schools every two years.

Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) has introduced a companion measure across the Capitol.

Sanchez released a version of the legislation in the last session of Congress, but it did not move forward through the committee level or on the House floor. So far this year’s bill has 21 cosponsors, nine of whom are Republicans.

Both the House and Senate will be considering respective bills this week to reauthorize the 2002 No Child Left Behind education law.