H.B. 740                                                 VETOES

House Bill 740 expands reporting requirement and creates additional bureaucracy for
no obvious purpose. It creates another form to be filled out and a report to be
generated for MSDE. An additional report, compiling information from the county
board reports, must be produced by MSDE for two State legislative committees. The
initial "victim of harassment or intimidation forms" will likely have to be filled out by
teachers, who are most likely to witness or hear about incidents of harassment and
intimidation. Teachers have enough demands on their time without the State
imposing new demands. Local school systems already have plans in place to
adequately deal with harassment.

There is no doubt that harassment and intimidation occur daily in Maryland's public
schools, but these incidents are addressed by very capable teachers and school
administrators and the workgroup convened by MSDE. While we all want safe
schools, the objectives outlined by House Bill 740 are already being undertaken at the
State and local level. Moreover, on April 27, 2004, I signed into law Chapter 222 of the
Acts of the General Assembly of 2004 (House Bill 1288 - Education - Positive
Behavioral Interventions and Support Program), which promotes a proven method in
this State for reducing disciplinary problems - some of which involve incidents of
harassment and intimidation.

For the above stated reasons, I have vetoed House Bill 740.

Very truly yours,
Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr.
Governor

House Bill No. 740

AN ACT concerning

Safe Schools Reporting Act of 2004

FOR the purpose of requiring each county board of education to create a program for
reporting the State Department of Education to require a county board to report
certain incidents against certain students; authorizing certain persons to file a
report regarding certain incidents; requiring each county board the State
Department of Education to create a standard victim of harassment or
intimidation report form; providing for the contents and distribution of a certain
form; requiring a county board to submit copies summaries of a certain form to
the State Board Department of Education on or before a certain date each year;
requiring a county board to delete identifying information from certain forms
under certain circumstances; requiring the State Board Department of
Education to submit a certain report on or before a certain date each year to
certain committees consisting of certain information relating to victim of
harassment or intimidation reports filed with county boards; providing for the
termination of this Act; and generally relating to reporting incidents of
harassment or intimidation of students at public schools.

BY adding to

Article - Education

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