LANSING-Lawmakers are getting serious about bullying.

Legislators have re-introduced proposals to require schools by next year to define bullying and to create a plan to stop it. At present, public schools aren't required to have a harassment policy

One sponsor said such a requirement is long overdue.

"It's just too easy to turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to these situations," said Rep. Lorence Wenke, R-Galesburg. "It needs to stop."

Martin Ackley, director of communications for the Michigan Department of Education, said the state Board of Education adopted a policy in 2006 advising how schools should deal with bullying.

"If these bills pass, then the model policy is already out there," he said.

Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Midland, said that he expects the bills to spark a debate between local and state officials over who would decide if the state must review each district's policy and whether districts would have the option to adopt their own or the state's definition of bullying.

"All these questions need to be sorted out," said Moolenaar, vice-chairof the House Education Committee. "The bill would provide a good vehicle to have these discussions."

Don Wotruba, director of legislative affairs for the Michigan Association of School Boards, said he supports the concept but opposes a mandate that districts adopt the state's definition of bullying.

Local school officials "might look at it and say this isn't necessary in our district," he said.

Around 80 to 90 percent of districts already have harassment policies, Wotruba said.

Leigh Acker, assistant principal of Greenville Middle School, said her district has a harassment policy.

Each school year, Acker said, she tells students what behavior is allowed and what isn't. A student who is harassed can file a complaint, she said, adding that the school keeps track of the reports.

"I have a running record of the discipline," Acker said.

But Acker said implementing a districtwide definition of bullying would be difficult.

"For some students to be called stupid, it wouldn't offend them, for others it would," she said.

Richard Myers, assistant principal of Three Rivers Middle School, said that besides offering students a way to report bullying, his district emphasizes programs that try to get to the root of harassment.

One such program is called Operation Can, in which teachers and staff work with students who are bullied and "give advice and encouragement on how to overcome" the harassment. Teachers often try to get the harassed students involved in extracurricular activities.

Another sponsor, Sen. Glenn Anderson, D-Westland, re-introduced his bill that died in the House last year.

Anderson said bullying is linked to higher dropout rates, crime, suicide and school shootings.

"Statistics show that 30 percent of students in grades six through 10 are affected by moderate or frequent bullying with 19 percent of students having participated bullying," he said.

Hilda Clarice Quiroz, program director for the California-based National Center for School Safety, said the proposal is a step in the right direction.

Bullying is sometimes tolerated because people often disagree about what the term means, Quiroz said.

"Right now, so many people aren't on the same page of what they would include," she said. "The first step of a bullying response is a set of definitions that everyone can have."

Creating a system where students feel safe reporting that they've been bullied is another important step for reducing the behavior, Quiroz said. "Those systems have to be consistent, equitable and accessible."

Karen Schulz, communications director for the Michigan Education Association, said that it's important that schools have a harassment policy.

"We know at the school level that there is a lot of bullying taking place," she said.

Schulz said that the state's largest union of school employees supports allowing each district to adopt its own harassment policy.

"The local level is usually the best place for the policy to be developed," she said.