Cost of anti-bullying measures?

I have been asked more than once what costs are associated with anti-bullying policies. The answer: it varies greatly depending on the type of policy enacted.

Some state policy components are no- to low-cost:

• Establishing a statewide definition of bullying (or requiring local boards to establish a definition of bullying)
• Requiring all incidents of bullying to be reported to administrators and parents (and providing immunity to those who report in good faith)
  
• Requiring administrators to investigate incidents of bullying
• Informing all students and parents of the district/state anti-bullying policy and of disciplinary actions to be taken against those found to be bullying

Some state policy components are of moderate cost:

• Requiring the department of education to review districts' anti-bullying policies (for those states with a large number of districts, this may be a high-cost policy component)
• Requiring data collection and annual reporting on bullying incidents in the state (again, for those states with a large number of districts, this may become a relatively higher-cost component)
  
• Identifying research-based bullying prevention and intervention programs, and disseminating those to districts
• Making available technical assistance to districts in adopting and implementing anti-bullying measures

Some state policy components may come with a relatively higher price tag:

• Requiring all school staff to undergo bullying prevention training
• Requiring bullying prevention education in K-12 schools
• Requiring conflict resolution efforts to be adopted in all schools statewide.

What constitutes a comprehensive anti-bullying policy? Such a policy need not be high-cost. ECS' comprehensive state-level anti-bullying policy (from this 2005 report--to be updated later this year) includes the following components (I've added the related cost category each component would typically under):

• Defines bullying (including cyberbullying) (LOW- TO NO-COST)
  
• Prohibits bullying by students (LOW- TO NO-COST)
• Informs students and others of anti-bullying policy (LOW- TO NO-COST)
• Enables students and parents to report bullying incidents (LOW- TO NO-COST)
• Requires teachers and other school staff to report bullying incidents (LOW- TO NO-COST)
• Provides immunity to those reporting bullying incidents and protection from reprisal, retaliation or false accusation against victims, witnesses or others with information regarding a bullying incident (LOW- TO NO-COST)
• Requires administrators to investigate reported incidents (LOW COST)
• Encourages or requires bullying prevention education in schools (MODERATE COST--HIGH COST IF REQUIRES ALL TEACHERS TO UNDERGO BULLYING PREVENTION TRAINING BEYOND CURRICULUM PREP TRAINING)