(The Center Square) – The Nevada Senate Committee on Education unanimously passed on Wednesday Assembly Bill 48, which proposes letting kids who discriminate against other classmates transfer schools.
This legislative proposal, which affects students such as bullies, passed the state Assembly 42-0 on April 22.
The Assembly Committee on Education proposed this bill on behalf of the Clark County School District, which includes Las Vegas.
Under current Nevada law, discrimination victims can only move to different schools.
AB 48 considers transferring the perpetrators of discrimination to a different school a disciplinary action to resolve the issue.
In consultation with their parents, if the person who did the discrimination and the victim want to transfer schools, AB 48 says they can’t be moved to the same school.
To address this changing school scenario, an investigation must be launched into discrimination allegations. Claims of discrimination in Nevada schools can be made based on race, cyberbullying and bullying.
AB 48 proposes that if a school administrator finds the discrimination allegations credible, the administrator must take immediate steps to address the situation.
However, if the allegations are false, the bill says school administrators must follow the Nevada Department of Education’s policies regarding false reports. Nevada law lets a school administrator punish a student who made false discrimination claims.
According to data for the state government, during the 2023-2024 school year, Nevada public schools saw 14,694 reported incidents related to bullying, cyberbullying and racial discrimination. Bullying incidents made up almost 70% of these incidents.
Of the incidents related to bullying and cyberbullying, 33% resulted in a student being suspended, while only 5% of these incidents led to expulsion.
The 2023-2024 school year had more reported claims of bullying, cyberbullying and racial discrimination than two years prior.
During the 2021-2022 school year, Nevada experienced 11,837 reported incidents of cases related to these categories. This means the 2023-2024 school year saw a 24% increase in reported incidents compared to the 2021-2022 school year.
During this school year, bullying reports made up 82% of the cases.
Furthermore, 31% of bullying and cyberbullying cases resulted in suspension, while 3% of them ended in expulsion.
