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H7114ASchool Safety

Education - Health and Safety of Pupils

This bill allows schools to assign up to 10 hours of tailored community service to students who bully others.

Introduced62 Yea0 Nay13 Not voting
Population
Affected
15
Email Legislator
Introduced Jan 15, 2026Committee House Education

Plain-English Summary

This bill allows school administrations or juvenile hearing boards to assign up to 10 hours of directed community service to students who bully others based on religion, sexual orientation, or ethnicity. The community service is designed as a form of restorative justice and must be tailored to the specific type of bullying committed. For example, a student who bullies someone based on their Jewish faith might be assigned service at a Holocaust museum. The community service is not considered a criminal penalty and must be completed within three months of being assigned.

For younger readers

This bill says that if a student bullies someone because of their religion, where they are from, or who they love, the school can make the bully do up to 10 hours of community service. Community service means doing unpaid work to help others. The work they do will be connected to the type of bullying they did. For example, if they bullied someone for being Jewish, they might have to help out at a museum that teaches about Jewish history. The student has three months to finish this work.

Who & Where It Applies

Impacted groups
StudentsSchool administratorsJuvenile hearing boardsParents of studentsCommunity service organizations
Impacted communities
All

Constitutional & Fiscal Check

Moderate risk

There is a moderate risk regarding the First Amendment (free speech). While schools can regulate speech causing a "material and substantial disruption," mandating "restorative justice" that compels a student to participate in ideological or educational community service based on their speech could be challenged as compelled speech or viewpoint discrimination.

Estimated cost
None
Estimated revenue
None

Bill Analysis

Both viewpoints
For Progressives
  • Promotes restorative justice over purely punitive measures, helping to educate offenders rather than just punishing them through suspension or expulsion.
  • Specifically targets hate-based bullying, providing protection and validation for marginalized and vulnerable student populations based on religion, sexual orientation, and ethnicity.
  • Mitigates the school-to-prison pipeline by explicitly stating the community service is not a criminal penalty, keeping youth disciplinary issues out of the criminal justice system.
  • Leaves the imposition of community service to the discretion of school administrators, which could lead to racially or socioeconomically biased enforcement against minority students.
  • Does not explicitly provide funding or transportation for students to complete the community service, potentially creating an unfair burden on low-income families.
  • Limits the protected categories to religion, sexual orientation, and ethnicity, leaving out other vulnerable groups such as transgender students (gender identity) or students with disabilities.
For Conservatives
  • Empowers local school administrations and juvenile boards to handle disciplinary issues directly without needing state-level criminal intervention.
  • Promotes personal accountability by requiring the offending student to actively work and complete community service rather than just receiving a passive suspension.
  • Keeps the disciplinary action out of the formal criminal justice system, protecting youths from permanent criminal records for childhood mistakes.
  • Creates special protected classes (religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity) rather than applying a universal standard and penalty for all types of bullying.
  • Could be viewed as an infringement on free speech if students are forced into ideological "re-education" community service for expressing unpopular or traditional religious beliefs.
  • Grants school administrators broad authority to mandate off-campus activities (community service), which some may view as overstepping into parental rights and responsibilities.

Votes

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Full Bill Text

2 versions
Changes to existing Rhode Island law · 21 additions

SECTION 1. Chapter 16-21 of the General Laws entitled "Health and Safety of Pupils" is hereby amended by adding thereto the following section: 16-21-44. Bullying -- Directed community service.

(a) This section shall establish a form of restorative justice designed to address acts of bullying (the "action") in and around schools that are based on religious beliefs, sexual orientation, or ethnicity, in a manner which provides a suitable sanction for the action but also promotes learning, knowledge, and insight to deter a student from engaging in future acts of bullying.

(b) As used in this section, the term "bullying" has the same meaning as "bullying" and "cyberbullying" as defined in § 16-21-33.

(c) A student who commits an act or acts of bullying which is based upon or related to the religious beliefs, sexual orientation, or ethnicity of the person subject to the bullying, may when determined to be appropriate, in addition to any other penalties provided by law, be required to perform up to ten (10) hours of directed community service in a setting and manner to both deter a student from engaging in future acts of bullying, and also to promote learning, knowledge, and insight. This community service may be imposed by a juvenile hearing board, or a school administration, or any combination thereof. Directed community service imposed by a school administration or juvenile hearing board shall not be deemed a criminal penalty.

(d) Directed community service shall be tailored to the bullying action. By way of illustration only, and without imposing any limitations, for a student who has bullied a student based upon the student’s Jewish faith or heritage, directed community service pursuant to this section could be performed at a Holocaust museum.

(e) Any community service imposed pursuant to the provisions of this section shall need to be completed within three (3) months from the date of imposition.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.