In 2007, the General Assembly amended Section 27-23.76 to include a requirement that within 180 days of the effective date of the amendment:

• School districts create and maintain a policy on bullying, which must be filed with the State Board of Education.
• Each school district must communicate this policy on bullying to its students and their parent or guardian on an annual basis.
• The policy must be updated every 2 years and filed with the State Board of Education after updated.
• The amendment, however, did not provide any detail as to what must be contained in this policy.

The amendment became effective on August 23, 2007, so the requirement to have a policy in place has been in effrect since approximately February 23, 2008. Further, the amendment requires ISBE to monitor the implementation of the policies.