Colorado’s newest anti-bullying program is being fueled by proceeds from legal marijuana sales and earning local and national praise from students, teachers and watchdog groups for its effectiveness.

“People can tell the difference when they walk in here,” said Allison Horton, a teacher at Denver’s Skinner Middle School and one of the overseers of the school’s restorative justice program. That effort has been credited with helping solve hallway and schoolroom conflicts and improving grades. “It seems like a safe place.”

Skinner is among 71 schools across the state last year that got money from the Colorado Department of Education’s Bullying Prevention Grant program that began in 2016. As many as 34,423 students have been impacted in some way by the grant, which became possible after voters approved spending marijuana tax dollars on school construction and other efforts aimed at improving school health and safety.

Bullying was targeted because some have linked persistent classroom taunts, intimidation and student-on-student assaults to outbreaks of school violence and shootings, including the 1999 Columbine High School massacre. But others contend the effects of bullying are more subtle and can lead to depression, decreased academic achievement, anxiety and, in some cases, suicide, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Each year, the Colorado Department of Education program distributes nearly $2 million to help start or bolster proven, evidenced-based strategies at schools aiming at stopping bullying in classrooms and hallways, said Adam Collins, the department’s bullying prevention and education grant coordinator.

“Really, we let the schools pick what works best for them,” Collins said. “That could mean different strategies at different schools. But usually it means getting students, teachers and parents and the community involved. It’s hard work for the teachers and district, but I think it works out in the long run.”

At Skinner, that meant expanding the school’s restorative justice program, which calls for teachers and students to conference together almost immediately to deal with conflicts. At the Pueblo 60 School District, the grant prompted a community-wide peace summit in 2017 that brought schools together to compare bullying prevention education and training. And at the Lamar Rd-2 District, parents, teachers and students learned in weekly sessions how to spot bullying behavior and prevent it.

“It’s all about getting people most involved in schools — parents, teachers and students — together in leadership positions to deal with bullying,” Collins said.

The work appears to be paying off, Collins said. Schools on tap to receive a portion of the anti-bulling grant surveyed students during the 2016-17 school year and found that, on average, 37 percent reported being the target of a bully and 50 percent witnessed bullying.

But after a single year of the bullying program, those same schools saw an overall 19-percent drop in students being the target of bullying and an overall 10-percent drop in students witnessing bullying, according to the state education department.

The results impressed WalletHub, a consumer financial website, which recently published its 2018 “States with the Biggest Bullying Problems” report. It evaluated anti-bullying laws and practices of 47 states and the District of Columbia and ranked Colorado’s anti-bullying laws as the third best among the states surveyed and fourth best for its bullying impact and treatment practices.

“The high school environment (in Colorado) is generally safe, as only 5.2 percent of students missed school for fear of being bullied,” WalletHub analyst Jill Gonzalez said. She also said the state has one of the highest numbers of psychologists and child or adolescent therapists per capita.

At Skinner, a select group of trained students meets frequently to hear grievances among students and help mediate problems between students. Also, seventh- and eighth-graders at Skinner are asked to make incoming sixth-graders feel welcome instead of harassed.

“Skinner is really good about getting people together and learning to know each other,” said eighth-grader Alex Richardson, a member of the school’s restorative justice team.

Students are shown how bad behavior hurts their education as well as others, added Jessica Hale, a dean of discipline at Skinner. “It used to be a teacher would take a student down to the front office to deal with problems like name-calling or bullying,” Hale said. “That just takes time out of a day of learning and, a lot of times, the student who got into trouble didn’t learn much out of the experience.”

The school often asks students to reverse role-play, putting the bullying students in the role of bullying victim to learn empathy and understanding, Hale said. “There is a commitment here to social and emotional learning as well as academics,” she said.

The work appears to be paying off as the percentage of students reported being bullied at Skinner went from 59 percent in the 2016-17 school year to 25 percent last school year, Hale said. Skinner students, meanwhile, last year outperformed their counterparts in Denver Public Schools on statewide tests measuring language arts, math and science skills.

“I think we provide an environment where you can concentrate on studying rather than just on conflicts,” Hale said.

There are still suspensions for the more serious offenses, hallway scuffles, words hurled over girlfriends and boyfriends, and other middle school throwdowns, say students.

But those are at a minimum, compared to other middle schools, said eighth-grader Nabila Huapaya. That’s due in part to Skinner recognizing and honoring its diverse enrollment, she said. Skinner is about 60 percent Latino and 39 percent white with students coming from families up and down the economic scale.

“It’s shocking, but Skinner really doesn’t have too many problems,” Huapaya said. “That’s because people here work hard at solving problems.”