It's hardly surprising Premier Dalton McGuinty, Tory Leader Tim Hudak and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath want to fight bullying in schools.

Who doesn't, particularly in the wake of another round of tragic suicides in which bullied young people took their own lives?

But McGuinty's latest effort, more politically correct legislation called The Accepting Schools Act, which places a particular emphasis on bullying children over their sexual identity, although it covers all other forms, isn't going to help.

With this bill, the Liberals have come full circle - scrapping the Mike Harris Tories' Safe Schools Act years ago because, they said, it focused too much on expelling violent and bullying students.

Now, their new legislation provides for expelling violent and bullying students.

We need to stop going in circles. We don't need more laws.

There are plenty of laws to deal with bullying, including the Criminal Code for such crimes as physical and sexual assault, if they're forcefully applied.

What's needed is the political will at school boards and Queen's Park to use the laws and policies we already have to fight bullying.

Following the shoooting death of Grade 9 student Jordan Manners at a Toronto high school in 2007, the school board launched an investigation into school violence headed by lawyer Julian Falconer.

It found a culture of fear and silence about reporting and addressing school violence at every level - from students to trustees, some of whom interfered with discipline.

Too many boards pretend bullying doesn't exist.

Too many education bureaucrats don't back up principals and teachers when they try to address violence and bullying, preferring to hide the issue.

Their "solution" when parents complain about their children being bullied is too often to deny there's a problem, or propose the bullied child change schools. This is absurd.

It's the bully who must be removed from the school and, if he or she is still reachable, given the educational and behavior-modification tools to change.

That doesn't take more laws. It takes the province properly funding such initiatives. (McGuinty could take it out of his ruinously expensive all-day kindergarten program.)

Principals and teachers need to be supported by boards and the province when they discipline bullies, regardless of the race, creed or colour of the bullies.

Too often, school staff are subjected to phony charges of racism by some parents and government bodies, simply for trying to keep schools safe.

Finally, if we want safe schools for our kids, kids can't do it alone.

There's nothing wrong with forming "Gay-Straight Alliance" clubs at schools to combat anti-gay bullying.

But they won't be effective unless the school is already committed to combating all forms of bullying, instead of sweeping them under the rug.

The real solution is to make it clear to principals and teachers it's their job to combat bullying, and back them up when they do.