HARRISBURG – Rep. Regina Young of Delaware & Philadelphia Counties plans to introduce legislation to extend anti-bullying protections to students attending non-public schools. The law will be named in memory of Jack Reid, a 17-year-old student whose life was tragically cut short after enduring persistent bullying at a private school. In response, the Jack Reid Foundation was established in New York State to advance evidence-based bullying prevention policies and promote stronger protections for students. While the 2026-27 PA budget included updates to strengthen PA’s anti-bullying laws, those protections currently apply only to public school entities. Young says as a result, over 250,000 students attending PA non-public schools would not receive the same statutory protection against bullying as students in public schools. She adds that every student, regardless of school setting, deserves equal protection from bullying. Her proposal would not require non-public schools to report their bullying policies or incident data to the PA Department of Education, nor would the legislation infringe upon a non-public school’s First Amendment protections.
REP. REGINA YOUNG