Bill Text: NY A01103 | 2015-2016 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Relates to the transportation of children four years of age and older attending pre-kindergarten.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 21-6)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2016-01-06 - referred to education [A01103 Detail]
Download: New_York-2015-A01103-Introduced.html
S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
1103
2015-2016 Regular Sessions
I N A S S E M B L Y
January 8, 2015
___________
Introduced by M. of A. FAHY, LUPARDO, CAMARA, SCARBOROUGH, JAFFEE,
GUNTHER, MAGNARELLI, COLTON, STIRPE, OTIS, DUPREY, MONTESANO, RAIA,
GIGLIO, ABINANTI, CLARK, ROBINSON, TENNEY, ORTIZ -- Multi-Sponsored by
-- M. of A. ABBATE, DAVILA, GALEF, GOTTFRIED, McLAUGHLIN, PERRY, SCHI-
MEL, SKARTADOS, THIELE -- read once and referred to the Committee on
Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to the transportation of
children attending pre-kindergarten; and repealing certain provisions
of such law relating thereto
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
1 Section 1. Paragraph a of subdivision 1 of section 3635 of the educa-
2 tion law, as amended by section 11 of part A of chapter 97 of the laws
3 of 2011, is amended to read as follows:
4 a. Sufficient transportation facilities (including the operation and
5 maintenance of motor vehicles) shall be provided by the school district
6 for all the children residing within the school district to and from the
7 school they legally attend, who are in need of such transportation
8 because of the remoteness of the school to the child or for the
9 promotion of the best interest of such children. Such transportation
10 shall be provided for all children FOUR YEARS OF AGE AND OLDER attending
11 grades [kindergarten] PRE-KINDERGARTEN through eight who live more than
12 two miles from the school which they legally attend and for all children
13 attending grades nine through twelve who live more than three miles from
14 the school which they legally attend and shall be provided for each such
15 child up to a distance of fifteen miles, the distances in each case
16 being measured by the nearest available route from home to school. The
17 cost of providing such transportation between two or three miles, as the
18 case may be, and fifteen miles shall be considered for the purposes of
19 this chapter to be a charge upon the district and an ordinary contingent
20 expense of the district. Transportation for a lesser distance than two
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00827-01-5
A. 1103 2
1 miles in the case of children FOUR YEARS OF AGE AND OLDER attending
2 grades [kindergarten] PRE-KINDERGARTEN through eight or three miles in
3 the case of children attending grades nine through twelve and for a
4 greater distance than fifteen miles may be provided by the district with
5 the approval of the qualified voters, and, if provided, shall be offered
6 equally to all children in like circumstances residing in the district;
7 provided, however, that this requirement shall not apply to transporta-
8 tion offered pursuant to section thirty-six hundred thirty-five-b of
9 this article.
10 S 2. Paragraph a of subdivision 1 of section 3635 of the education
11 law, as amended by chapter 69 of the laws of 1992, is amended to read as
12 follows:
13 a. Sufficient transportation facilities (including the operation and
14 maintenance of motor vehicles) shall be provided by the school district
15 for all the children residing within the school district to and from the
16 school they legally attend, who are in need of such transportation
17 because of the remoteness of the school to the child or for the
18 promotion of the best interest of such children. Such transportation
19 shall be provided for all children FOUR YEARS OF AGE AND OLDER attending
20 grades [kindergarten] PRE-KINDERGARTEN through eight who live more than
21 two miles from the school which they legally attend and for all children
22 attending grades nine through twelve who live more than three miles from
23 the school which they legally attend and shall be provided for each such
24 child up to a distance of fifteen miles, the distances in each case
25 being measured by the nearest available route from home to school. The
26 cost of providing such transportation between two or three miles, as the
27 case may be, and fifteen miles shall be considered for the purposes of
28 this chapter to be a charge upon the district and an ordinary contingent
29 expense of the district. Transportation for a lesser distance than two
30 miles in the case of children FOUR YEARS OF AGE AND OLDER attending
31 grades [kindergarten] PRE-KINDERGARTEN through eight or three miles in
32 the case of children attending grades nine through twelve and for a
33 greater distance than fifteen miles may be provided by the district,
34 and, if provided, shall be offered equally to all children in like
35 circumstances residing in the district; provided, however, that this
36 requirement shall not apply to transportation offered pursuant to
37 section thirty-six hundred thirty-five-b of this article.
38 S 3. Paragraph g of subdivision 1 of section 3635 of the education law
39 is REPEALED.
40 S 4. Paragraph e of subdivision 1 of section 3635 of the education
41 law, as amended by chapter 665 of the laws of 1990, is amended to read
42 as follows:
43 e. In lieu of the transportation provided pursuant to the foregoing
44 provisions of this subdivision, a board of education may, at its
45 discretion, provide transportation to any child FOUR YEARS OF AGE AND
46 OLDER attending grades [kindergarten] PRE-KINDERGARTEN through eight
47 between the school such child legally attends and before-and/or-after-
48 school child care locations. For the purposes of this subdivision, a
49 before-and/or-after-school child care location shall mean a place, other
50 than the child's home, where care for less than twenty-four hours a day
51 is provided on a regular basis for a child who attends school within the
52 school district, provided that such place is situated within the school
53 district. This definition includes, but is not limited to, a variety of
54 child care services such as day care centers, family day care homes and
55 in-home care by non-relatives. Such transportation may be provided for
56 children FOUR YEARS OF AGE AND OLDER attending grades [kindergarten]
A. 1103 3
1 PRE-KINDERGARTEN through eight where the distance between the school
2 they legally attend and before-and/or-after-school child care locations
3 is more than two miles, and may be provided for up to a distance of
4 fifteen miles, the distance in each case being measured by the nearest
5 available route from before-and/or-after-school child care locations to
6 the school they legally attend, except that transportation for a lesser
7 distance than two miles or a greater distance than fifteen miles may be
8 provided if transportation for such distances is provided to students
9 between home and school. Where a child receives transportation from a
10 before-school child care location to the school he or she legally
11 attends, such child shall be entitled to receive transportation from the
12 school he or she legally attends to his or her home or to an after-
13 school child care location in accordance with this subdivision. Where a
14 child receives transportation from the school he or she legally attends
15 to an after-school child care location, such child shall be entitled to
16 receive transportation from home to the school he or she legally attends
17 in accordance with this subdivision. Transportation may be provided to
18 any child FOUR YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER attending grades [kindergarten]
19 PRE-KINDERGARTEN through eight between the school the child legally
20 attends and before-and/or-after-school child care locations upon written
21 request of the parent or legal guardian submitted not later than the
22 first day of April preceding the next school year, provided, however, a
23 parent or guardian of a child not residing in the district on such date
24 shall submit a written request within thirty days after establishing
25 residence in the district and provided further that in order to be
26 considered eligible for such transportation in the nineteen hundred
27 eighty-seven--eighty-eight school year, such request must be submitted
28 by August first, nineteen hundred eighty-seven. The provision of trans-
29 portation to or from before-and/or-after-school child care locations, if
30 provided, shall be offered equally to all children in like circumstances
31 residing in the district, provided that a board of education furnishing
32 transportation pursuant to this paragraph may limit the provision of
33 such transportation to child care locations located within the attend-
34 ance zone of the school the child attends, and to child day care centers
35 and school age child care programs licensed or registered pursuant to
36 section three hundred ninety of the social services law located anywhere
37 within the school district. The cost of providing such transportation
38 between two or three miles, as the case may be, and fifteen miles shall
39 be considered for the purposes of this chapter to be a charge upon the
40 district. Such substitute transportation expense shall be eligible for
41 state aid in accordance with clause one of paragraph b of subdivision
42 seven of section thirty-six hundred two of this chapter. Nothing in this
43 subdivision shall be construed to impose a duty upon boards of education
44 to provide transportation to or from before-and/or-after-school child
45 care locations. Nothing in this subdivision shall be construed to
46 authorize boards of education to provide to any child transportation
47 between a before-and/or-after-school day care location and that child's
48 home.
49 S 5. This act shall take effect immediately, provided that the amend-
50 ments to paragraph a of subdivision 1 of section 3635 of the education
51 law made by section one of this act shall be subject to the expiration
52 and reversion of such paragraph when upon such date the provisions of
53 section two of this act shall take effect.
