Bill Text: NY A00040 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires a school library media specialist in each elementary, intermediate, middle, junior high and senior high school with one such specialist being employed full-time in schools with more than five hundred students and two such specialists being employed full-time in schools with more than two thousand students.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - referred to education [A00040 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-A00040-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 40 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY (Prefiled) January 4, 2023 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. L. ROSENTHAL, BUTTENSCHON, RIVERA -- read once and referred to the Committee on Education AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to requiring a school library media specialist in each elementary, intermediate, middle, junior high and senior high school 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 286 to 2 read as follows: 3 § 286. School library media specialist. 1. Notwithstanding any other 4 provision of law to the contrary and subject to the provisions of subdi- 5 vision two of this section, each school district shall employ a certi- 6 fied school library media specialist in each elementary, intermediate, 7 middle, junior high and senior high school within three years of the 8 effective date of this section. 9 2. Employment of certified school library media specialist shall be in 10 accordance with the following standards: 11 a. In each school with an enrollment of not more than one hundred 12 students, a certified school library media specialist shall be employed 13 as fifteen-hundredths of a full-time equivalent staff member; 14 b. In each school with an enrollment of more than one hundred but not 15 more than three hundred students, a certified school library media 16 specialist shall be employed as a three-tenths of a full-time equivalent 17 staff member; 18 c. In each elementary or secondary school with an enrollment of more 19 than three hundred but no more than five hundred students, a certified 20 school library media specialist shall be employed as a one-half of a 21 full-time equivalent staff member; EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD01390-01-3A. 40 2 1 d. In each school with an enrollment of more than five hundred 2 students, a certified school library media specialist shall be employed 3 as a full-time equivalent staff member; 4 e. In each school with an enrollment of more than one thousand 5 students but no more than two thousand students, a certified school 6 library media specialist and a support staff person shall be employed as 7 a full-time equivalent staff member; 8 f. (i) In each school with an enrollment of at least two thousand 9 students, two certified school library media specialists and two support 10 staff persons shall be employed as a full-time equivalent staff member; 11 (ii) An additional full-time equivalent staff member shall be employed 12 as a support staff person for each additional one thousand students 13 enrolled in a school. 14 3. The commissioner may, upon application by a school district, waive 15 the applicability of the provisions of subdivisions one and two of this 16 section for up to two years, if such application demonstrates the school 17 is within a designated shortage area for certified school library media 18 specialists, and such application demonstrates that such school has a 19 two-year plan to be in compliance with the provisions of this section; 20 however, no such waiver shall be granted for more than two consecutive 21 school years. 22 § 2. Subdivision 2 of section 711 of the education law, as amended by 23 section 2 of part A-1 of chapter 58 of the laws of 2011, is amended to 24 read as follows: 25 2. School library materials, for the purposes of this article shall 26 mean both audio/visual materials and printed materials that may or may 27 not require magnification which meet all of the following criteria: (1) 28 materials which are catalogued and processed as part of the school 29 library or media center for use by elementary and/or secondary school 30 children and teachers; (2) materials which with reasonable care and use 31 may be expected to last more than one year; and (3) materials which 32 would not be eligible for aid pursuant to sections seven hundred one and 33 seven hundred fifty-one of this title. School library materials meeting 34 these criteria may include (i) hard cover and paperback books, period- 35 icals, that is, publications which appear at regular intervals of less 36 than one year on a continuing basis for an indefinite period, documents 37 other than books, pamphlets, musical scores, other printed and published 38 materials, and (ii) for school year nineteen hundred eighty-six--eight- 39 y-seven and thereafter, audio/visual materials including films, film 40 strips, micro-film, sound recordings, processed slides, transparencies, 41 kinescopes, video tapes, maps, charts, globes, pictorial works, includ- 42 ing pictures and picture sets, reproductions, photographs, graphic 43 works, any audio/visual, online or electronic materials needed for media 44 literacy programs, and any other audio/visual materials of a similar 45 nature made. 46 § 3. This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding 47 the date on which it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the 48 addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary 49 for the implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized 50 to be made and completed on or before such effective date.
