School Bullying and Cyberbullying Legislation

Two state legislators have introduced bills to address the issue of bullying in public schools. 

Senator Tim Cullen (D-Janesville) has introduced Senate Bill 184, which requires the definition of bullying in the Department of Public Instruction's model policy, which a school board can choose to adopt, to include bullying by electronic means. The bill also requires the model policy to include a requirement that a school district official who has reasonable cause to suspect that a bullying incident is a violation of a criminal law report the incident to a law enforcement agency. Finally, the bill requires the model policy to include appropriate responses to bullying that occurs off school grounds.

SB 184 also creates a new misdemeanor category for online bullying that occurs on social media sites. Current law only regulates online bullying via e-mail messages.

SB 184 has been referred to the Senate Committee on Education.  

Representative Gary Bies (R-Sister Bay) has introduced Assembly Bill 123, which would fine a school district employee $200 for failing to report an incident of bullying. 

AB 123 has been referred to the Assembly Committee on Education. 

No legislative action has been taken on either of these bills at this time. 

Legislators Aim to Delete Secretary of State, State Treasurer. What does this mean for the Common School Fund?

State Representatives Tyler August (R-Lake Geneva) and Michael Schraa (R-Oshkosh) have drafted a constitutional amendment to eliminate the positions of secretary of state and state treasurer, both of whom serve on the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands which administers the Common School Fund. 

"The duties performed by these officials are obsolete and are already performed by other areas of government, but yet the taxpayers pay over $2 million for their salaries, benefits, and staff,” said Schraa in a press release issued by the legislators. “This bill is a common-sense reform that the legislature should adopt immediately.”

Currently, the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands is comprised of the secretary of state, the state treasurer and the attorney general. If the proposed  constitutional amendment takes effect,  the lieutenant governor and state superintendent of public instruction will become members and the attorney general will remain a member. 

Concerns have been raised over the decision to make the lieutenant governor a member of the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands, since the position is more political than secretary of state and state treasurer. The change in membership is especially concerning since the Common School Fund is frequently the target of "fund raids" that attempt to divert money away from the Fund to finance other programs. 

In a recent op-ed featured in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Secretary of State Doug La Follette, State Treasurer Kurt Schuller and Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen highlighted the important work the Board does for public school libraries. 

They wrote:

Through the programs we manage, Wisconsin's public school libraries are annually provided funds for the purchase of books, newspapers and periodicals, web-based resources, computer hardware and software and other library assets. We have generated enough money from our investments to put a book in the hand of every child in Wisconsin.

To take effect, the amendment would need to pass both houses of the legislature in two consecutive legislative sessions and receive the approval of voters in a statewide referendum. This means that August and Schraa's proposal would need to pass both the Assembly and Senate during the 2013-14 session and again in the 2014-15 session. 

The proposed amendment has not been formally introduced yet, and we will update you with more details as they become available.