Bill Text: NY A06251 | 2011-2012 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Requires charter schools to enroll children with disabilities and English language learners in comparable numbers to those enrolled in public schools and provides that failure to comply may result in revocation of the charter.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 16-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-01-04 - referred to education [A06251 Detail]

Download: New_York-2011-A06251-Introduced.html

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                           S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
       ________________________________________________________________________
                                         6251
                              2011-2012 Regular Sessions
                                 I N  A S S E M B L Y
                                    March 10, 2011
                                      ___________
       Introduced by M. of A. MAISEL -- read once and referred to the Committee
         on Education
       AN  ACT  to  amend  the  education law, in relation to requiring charter
         schools to enroll children  with  disabilities  and  English  language
         learners in comparable numbers to those enrolled in public schools
         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 2 of section 2854 of the  educa-
    2  tion  law,  as amended by chapter 101 of the laws of 2010, is amended to
    3  read as follows:
    4    2. Admissions; enrollment; students.  (a) A charter  school  shall  be
    5  nonsectarian  in its programs, admission policies, employment practices,
    6  and all other operations and shall not charge tuition or fees;  provided
    7  that  a charter school may require the payment of fees on the same basis
    8  and to the same extent as other public schools. A charter  school  shall
    9  not  discriminate  against  any student, employee or any other person on
   10  the basis of ethnicity, national origin, gender, or  disability  or  any
   11  other  ground  that  would be unlawful if done by a school. Admission of
   12  students shall not be limited on  the  basis  of  intellectual  ability,
   13  measures of achievement or aptitude, athletic ability, disability, race,
   14  creed,  gender, national origin, religion, or ancestry; provided, howev-
   15  er, that nothing in this article  shall  be  construed  to  prevent  the
   16  establishment  of  a  single-sex  charter  school  or  a  charter school
   17  designed to provide expanded learning opportunities for students at-risk
   18  of academic failure or students with disabilities and  English  language
   19  learners;  and  provided,  further,  that  [the] A charter school [shall
   20  demonstrate good faith efforts to attract and  retain  a  comparable  or
   21  greater  enrollment  of] MUST ENROLL THE SAME OR A GREATER PERCENTAGE OF
   22  students with disabilities, English language learners, and students  who
   23  are  eligible  applicants  for  the free and reduced price lunch program
   24  when compared to the enrollment figures for such students in the  school
        EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                             [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                  LBD08002-01-1
       A. 6251                             2
    1  district  in  which the charter school is located. FAILURE TO COMPLY FOR
    2  TWO CONSECUTIVE YEARS SHALL BE DEEMED  GROUNDS  FOR  REVOCATION  OF  THE
    3  CHARTER. A charter shall not be issued to any school that would be whol-
    4  ly  or  in  part under the control or direction of any religious denomi-
    5  nation, or in which  any  denominational  tenet  or  doctrine  would  be
    6  taught.
    7    S 2. This act shall take effect immediately.