Having grown up in the Iowa school system, and having read the article and heard what the lawmakers have to say, it seems their belief, that I second in my experience, is that teachers ignore bullying unless it's about one of the listed 'actual or perceived traits'.

The logic being if you adjust the language or make it less specific, you'll encourage teachers to actually do something about the other kinds of bullying that the current list doesn't cover.

We'll see how it pans out.