DES MOINES — An Iowa Senate panel on Monday discussed several proposed changes to Gov. Terry Branstad’s bill on anti-bullying efforts in schools, including guidelines for educators looking at why a student might be bullied.
The three-member education subcommittee took no formal action but planned to meet Tuesday to decide whether the bill will advance to a full committee for review.
An amendment introduced by Sen. Robert Hogg, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, would make a few changes to the bill, including listing fewer scenarios in which a student may be considered a victim of bullying. Current law references more than a dozen, and the bill proposes expanding that. Education groups and others have said the expanded language might be too broad, so the amendment dials that language back.
The amendment would remove a $200,000 appropriation for teacher training and a pilot program, but Hogg said that money would be debated through a different funding process. He said removing the appropriation from the bill would help it advance.
The amendment would also create a work group of experts to study bullying and issue recommendations to state education officials.
The legislation is aimed at expanding how school officials around the state respond to bullying cases. It would allow school officials to address bullying outside of school grounds and expand the definition of cyberbullying.
It also has language that would give school educators some discretion over whether a parent should be notified of school bullying in cases when it may be detrimental to an affected student.
The notification language was a contentious issue that stalled the bill last year.