Senate passes bill for tracking bullying

The state Senate passed a bill yesterday that requires tracking cases of bullying in all Maryland schools, over the objections of Republicans who argued it was redundant and amounted to more paper-shuffling.

The bill, passed by a 31-16 vote, requires county school boards to report incidents of harassment or intimidation against students because of their race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion or disability.

The state would create a standard report form to document incidents.

Supporters said a standardized system would produce a complete picture of the problem and make it easier to come up with ways to...