JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Missouri students who fight or harass their classmates at school may now face felony charges under changes to the state’s criminal code that took effect Jan. 1.

Missouri law requires school officials to report certain assault and harassment crimes to law enforcement, and the changes to the criminal code that took effect on Sunday reclassify some of the misdemeanor charges as felonies, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

MORE NEWS: Know These Before Moving From Cyprus To The UK

According to the news site:

Starting Jan. 1, third-degree assault and some cases of harassment will become class E felonies. Harassment will be a felony, rather than a misdemeanor, if the victim suffers “emotional distress” from an act committed with that purpose. The state considers harassment to be a form of school bullying, and harassment is among the offenses school districts are technically required to report to local law enforcement.

Also under the new law, a person who “knowingly causes physical injury to another person” will have committed the felony of third-degree assault.

Ferguson Florissant School District Superintendent Joseph Davis put the changes into perspective for students and parents in a short video posted to YouTube late last month.

“Effective Jan. 1, there are new laws regarding physical injury to another person. This change in the law means that if a child injures another student in the school, on school grounds, on the bus, or at the bus stop, that student could be charged with a felony, depending on the circumstances,” he said.

[xyz-ihs snippet=”NEW-In-Article-Rev-Content-Widget”]

“You have the power to decide if you want a good future full of hope and promise, or a future with criminal record that follows you and limits your options,” Davis said. “If you choose to fight, starting Jan. 1, the stakes are higher.”

KMOV reports that a class E felony in Missouri carries up to a four year prison sentence, “but if the students are under 17, prison is not an option unless they stand trial as an adult.”

MORE NEWS: How to prepare for face-to-face classes

KTVI reports “students could face jail time if convicted” of a felony charge.

Parents and policy makers are speaking out against the changes they believe will worsen the “school-to-prison pipeline.”

“We are going to have kids who are babies with felonies and they’re just starting out,” parent Keena Smith told KTVI.

Rev. Susan Sneed described the upgraded charges as “a statute that is going to make it a little … more easier to put that felony charge on a child.”

Kelli Hopkins, attorney with the Missouri School Boards’ Association, told the Post-Dispatch she believes the changes “might inadvertently increase the number of children who are referred to law enforcement.”

Hopkins said the loosely defined harassment statute is the most troubling of the changes because what was considered teasing – like calling someone names – could now be interpreted as felony harassment.

“This is a serious, serious thing for school districts,” she said.