Bill Text: NY S08148 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires each high school senior to complete the FAFSA, an application for TAP, or a waiver form; requires schools to report data on the rates of submission of FAFSA and TAP applications.
Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 13-1)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-09 - REFERRED TO EDUCATION [S08148 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-S08148-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 8148 IN SENATE January 9, 2024 ___________ Introduced by Sens. GOUNARDES, ADDABBO, CHU, HOYLMAN-SIGAL, JACKSON, KENNEDY, MYRIE, RYAN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Education AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to enacting a universal financial aid policy The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new section 665-b 2 to read as follows: 3 § 665-b. Universal financial aid policy. 1. Definitions. As used in 4 this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings: 5 (a) "FAFSA" shall mean the free application for federal student aid. 6 (b) "Income" shall mean the adjusted gross income used to determine 7 the amount of federal Pell grant paid by the secretary of education 8 under 20 U.S.C. § 1070a or income used to determine a TAP award pursuant 9 to section six hundred sixty-three of this subpart. 10 (c) "Level of parental education" shall refer to whether or not a 11 student's parents obtained a doctorate or professional degree, graduate 12 degree, bachelor's degree, associate degree, high school diploma, alter- 13 native high school credential, or attended high school but did not 14 receive any kind of diploma or credential, provided that the president 15 shall retain the discretion to include additional categories as deemed 16 appropriate. 17 (d) "Local educational agency" shall mean a public school district, 18 charter school, or nonpublic school which educates students through the 19 twelfth grade, but shall not include boards of cooperative educational 20 services, special act school districts as defined in section four thou- 21 sand one of this chapter, approved private residential or non-residen- 22 tial schools for the education of students with disabilities including 23 private schools established under chapter eight hundred fifty-three of 24 the laws of nineteen hundred seventy-six, or state-operated or state- 25 supported schools in accordance with article eighty-five, eighty-seven 26 or eighty-eight of this chapter. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD13507-07-4S. 8148 2 1 (e) "School" shall mean an individual school within a public school 2 district or a charter school or nonpublic school which educates students 3 through the twelfth grade, but shall not include boards of cooperative 4 educational services, special act school districts as defined in section 5 four thousand one of this chapter, approved private residential or non- 6 residential schools for the education of students with disabilities 7 including private schools established under chapter eight hundred 8 fifty-three of the laws of nineteen hundred seventy-six, or state-oper- 9 ated or state-supported schools in accordance with article eighty-five, 10 eighty-seven or eighty-eight of this chapter. 11 (f) "Student aid index" shall mean a calculation by a college of how 12 much federal student aid an applicant is eligible to receive if they 13 attend such college. 14 (g) "TAP" shall refer to the tuition assistance program awards created 15 in section six hundred sixty-seven of this part. 16 (h) "Unaccompanied youth" shall have the same meaning as set forth in 17 42 USC §11434a(6). 18 2. Universal financial aid policy. Each local educational agency in 19 this state shall require each high school senior or each high school 20 senior and such senior's parent or legal guardian, as applicable, to 21 complete the FAFSA, an application for TAP, or a waiver form described 22 in subdivision four of this section before a student's date of gradu- 23 ation, provided, however, that a student shall not be prevented from 24 graduating if such student does not complete one of the forms or appli- 25 cations described herein. 26 3. Data sharing agreements. (a) In enabling local educational agencies 27 to comply with the provisions of subdivision two of this section, the 28 corporation shall enter into data sharing agreements with such agencies 29 which shall comply with the provisions of this subdivision. Such data 30 shall consist of a list of high school seniors for which the FAFSA or a 31 TAP application has been submitted and/or accepted, as described in 32 paragraph (b) of this subdivision. Such data sharing agreements shall, 33 at a minimum, stipulate that: 34 (i) All information received or accessed by the local educational 35 agency shall be deemed confidential and proprietary to the corporation. 36 All such information may not be used for any purpose other than to 37 assist such agencies in complying with subdivision two of this section. 38 (ii) The local educational agency and corporation shall be bound by 39 the provisions of article two of the state technology law, the Family 40 Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 2001 (20 U.S.C. § 1232g); subpara- 41 graph (E) of paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) of section 483 of the 42 federal Higher Education Act, 20 USC §1090(a)(3)(E), section two-d of 43 this chapter, and other applicable local, state, and federal statutes 44 which protect the privacy of student data. 45 (iii) Information received from the corporation shall be stored elec- 46 tronically and encrypted, password-protected, stored on a laptop or 47 computer with a screen-lock, and subject to any other precautions that 48 the corporation feels necessary to stipulate in order to ensure that the 49 information is stored securely. 50 (iv) The local educational agency shall designate a singular chief 51 authorizing officer who shall be responsible for identifying and author- 52 izing the personnel who will have access to the student data described 53 herein. Such authorization shall be limited to only those personnel who 54 require such access in order to carry out the provisions of this section 55 and such personnel shall have such access revoked upon a determination 56 by the officer that such access is no longer needed.S. 8148 3 1 (v) All records maintained by the local educational agency containing 2 the information described in this paragraph shall be subject to audit 3 and inspection by the corporation and state and federal auditors. 4 (b) The list of students who have completed a FAFSA or TAP application 5 shall include the following information: 6 (i) the student's last name; 7 (ii) the student's first name and middle initial; 8 (iii) the student's zip code, but not full address; 9 (iv) the school's identification number for the National Center for 10 Education Statistics as well as any other number that the department 11 uses to identify a school; 12 (v) if filed, the date that the FAFSA or TAP application was submitted 13 to the corporation; and 14 (vi) if submitted, the date that the FAFSA or TAP application was 15 accepted. 16 (c) The president shall publish online in a clear and accessible 17 manner an unfilled version of the data sharing agreement described in 18 this subdivision. 19 4. Waiver form. (a) The local educational agency shall ensure that 20 each high school senior who does not complete a FAFSA or TAP application 21 submits the waiver form described in this subdivision. Such form shall 22 be signed by both the senior and the senior's parent or legal guardian, 23 or, if the senior is eighteen years of age or older and legally emanci- 24 pated or an unaccompanied youth, signed solely by the senior, and shall 25 certify that the senior understands what the FAFSA and TAP application 26 is but has chosen not to file. Such senior, or senior's parents as 27 applicable, shall not be required to state the reason for the failure to 28 file such FAFSA or TAP application. 29 (b) The commissioner shall create a uniform waiver form, available to 30 all local educational agencies covered in this section, and post such 31 form in a prominent and accessible location on the department's website. 32 Such form shall be made available in the twelve most common non-English 33 languages spoken by limited-English proficient individuals in the state, 34 based on the data in the most recent American Community Survey published 35 by the United States Census Bureau. The commissioner may, in their 36 discretion, offer such form in up to four additional languages beyond 37 the twelve most common languages. School districts shall be required to 38 use the waiver form described in this paragraph when complying with the 39 provisions of this section and shall not be permitted to create their 40 own versions of such form. 41 (c) If the local educational agency determines that a student is 42 unable to complete a requirement of this section, such agency shall 43 complete and submit a waiver form on the student's behalf. 44 5. Notice to students. (a) Local educational agencies shall give 45 notice of the requirement to complete a FAFSA, TAP application, and/or 46 waiver as provided in subdivision two of this section no less than four 47 times throughout the school year for high school seniors, and no less 48 than two times throughout the school year for high school juniors. 49 Included in such notice shall be an explanation of state-sponsored scho- 50 larships and financial aid opportunities. 51 (b) Local educational agencies shall direct students to support 52 services that may be available to assist students in completing the 53 FAFSA and TAP application as necessary, including but not limited to 54 programs operated by the corporation, postsecondary immigration resource 55 centers, college readiness organizations, community-based organizations, 56 and legal resource organizations.S. 8148 4 1 (c) Local educational agencies shall make every effort to ensure that 2 unaccompanied youth are provided or connected with resources needed to 3 complete a FAFSA or TAP application as appropriate. 4 6. Data reporting. (a) The corporation shall compile data on FAFSA and 5 TAP application submission and acceptance rates for each local educa- 6 tional agency covered by this section and publish such data on its 7 website for each month of the year. Reported data shall include the 8 number of FAFSA and TAP applications submitted and accepted: 9 (i) both in total and disaggregated by school, county, and public 10 school district; and 11 (ii) disaggregated by level of parental education, racial and/or 12 ethnic identity of the student, income, age, gender, and student aid 13 index, as available to the corporation and where possible. 14 (b) The corporation shall publish the data described in this subdivi- 15 sion in a clear and accessible manner on its website. 16 (c) The corporation shall create an online dashboard which tracks 17 FAFSA and TAP application submission and acceptance rates for the 18 current year. The corporation shall also publish a table which compares 19 such rates to the rates of prior years beginning in the year following 20 the effective date of this section. 21 7. No penalty. A student who does not fulfill the requirements of this 22 section shall not be penalized or punished on such basis and this 23 section shall not affect a student's ability to graduate. 24 § 2. This act shall take effect on the first of July one year after 25 the date on which it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the 26 addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary 27 for the implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized 28 to be made and completed on or before such effective date.
