When The School Calls It Bullying
Educ. Code 37.0832 — the parent of the alleged victim told by the third business day
Texas does not leave bullying to each school's sense of it. The statute requires a policy and says what the policy has to contain, which turns a vague complaint into a specific one: not whether the school cares, but whether it is doing what its own required policy says.
The definition. Bullying is a single significant act or a pattern of acts by one or more students directed at another student that exploits an imbalance of power, through written, verbal or electronic expression or physical conduct, and that physically harms a student or damages property or places a student in reasonable fear of that, is severe, persistent or pervasive enough to create an intimidating, threatening or abusive educational environment, materially disrupts the classroom or school, or infringes on the victim's rights at school. It includes cyberbullying.
- Prohibits bullying, and prohibits retaliation against anyone, victim or witness, who in good faith reports it.
- Gives notice to a parent or guardian of the alleged victim on or before the third business day after the incident is reported, and to a parent of the alleged bully within a reasonable time.
- Sets out procedures for reporting, including anonymous reporting, for investigating, and for deciding whether the incident occurred.
- Bars disciplining a student found to be a victim of bullying for using reasonable self-defense in response.
- Sets out counseling options for a victim, a witness, and a student who bullies.
Where it reaches. On school property or at a school activity, on a school bus, and off campus cyberbullying where it interferes with a student's educational opportunities or substantially disrupts school. The policy appears each year in the student and employee handbooks, and the reporting procedure is posted on the district website to the extent practicable.
Discipline itself, suspension and expulsion procedure, federal civil rights law on harassment based on a protected characteristic, and criminal charges for conduct that is also a crime are outside this page. Whether a district followed its own policy in a particular case, and what can be done if it did not, are questions for a licensed Texas attorney.
Sources for this section (1)
- Educ. Code 37.0832 — Bullying prevention policies and procedures
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Texas attorney.