Bill Text: NY A07114 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relates to the attendance of minors upon full day instruction and the conditions under which districts are entitled to an apportionment of state aid.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Passed) 2019-12-06 - SIGNED CHAP.605 [A07114 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-A07114-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          7114
                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions
                   IN ASSEMBLY
                                      April 9, 2019
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  JONES  -- (at request of the State Education
          Department) -- read once and referred to the Committee on Education
        AN ACT to amend the education law, in  relation  to  the  attendance  of
          minors  upon  full  day  instruction  and  the  conditions under which
          districts are entitled to an apportionment of state aid; and repealing
          certain provisions of the education law relating thereto
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section  1. Subdivisions 7 and 8 of section 3604 of the education law,
     2  subdivision 7 as amended by section 3 of part B of  chapter  54  of  the
     3  laws  of 2016 and subdivision 8 as amended by chapter 260 of the laws of
     4  2012, are amended to read as follows:
     5    7. No district shall be entitled to any portion of such school  moneys
     6  on  such  apportionment  unless  the  report of the trustees or board of
     7  education for the preceding school  year  shall  show  that  the  public
     8  schools  were actually in session in the district and taught by a quali-
     9  fied teacher or by successive qualified teachers or by qualified  teach-
    10  ers  for  not less than one hundred eighty days. The moneys payable to a
    11  school district pursuant to section thirty-six hundred  nine-a  of  this
    12  [chapter]  part  in the current year shall be reduced by one one-hundred
    13  eightieth of the district's total foundation aid for the base  year  for
    14  each  day  less  than  one  hundred  eighty days that the schools of the
    15  district were actually in session,  except  that  the  commissioner  may
    16  disregard  such  reduction[,  up  to five days,] in the apportionment of
    17  public money, (i) for any day or days on which session had  been  previ-
    18  ously  scheduled but the superintendent was required to close the school
    19  or schools due to a properly executed declaration of a  state  or  local
    20  state  of  emergency  pursuant  to article two-B of the executive law or
    21  (ii) for up to five days if he or she finds  that  the  schools  of  the
    22  district  were  not  in  session  for one hundred eighty days because of
    23  extraordinarily adverse weather conditions, impairment of heating facil-
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD09869-02-9
        A. 7114                             2
     1  ities, insufficiency of water supply, shortage of fuel,  lack  of  elec-
     2  tricity,   natural   gas   leakage,   unacceptable  levels  of  chemical
     3  substances, a credible threat to student safety as reasonably determined
     4  by a lead school official or the destruction of a school building either
     5  in  whole  or in part, and if, further, the commissioner finds that such
     6  district cannot make up such  days  of  instruction  by  using  for  the
     7  secondary  grades  all  scheduled vacation days which occur prior to the
     8  first scheduled regents examination day in June, and for the  elementary
     9  grades  all scheduled vacation days which occur prior to the last sched-
    10  uled regents examination day in June. For the purposes of this  subdivi-
    11  sion,  "scheduled vacation days" shall mean days on which the schools of
    12  the district are not in session and for which no prohibition  exists  in
    13  subdivision eight of this section for them to be in session.
    14    8.  No  school  shall  be in session on a Saturday or a legal holiday,
    15  except general election day, Washington's birthday and Lincoln's  birth-
    16  day,  and  except  that  driver  education classes may be conducted on a
    17  Saturday. A deficiency not exceeding four days during  any  school  year
    18  caused  by teachers' attendance upon conferences held by superintendents
    19  of schools of city school districts or other school districts  employing
    20  superintendents  of  schools  shall  be  excused  by  the  commissioner,
    21  notwithstanding any provision of law, rule or regulation to the  contra-
    22  ry,  a school district may elect to schedule such conference days in the
    23  last two weeks of August, subject to collective bargaining  requirements
    24  pursuant  to  article  fourteen  of the civil service law, and such days
    25  shall be counted  towards  the  required  one  hundred  eighty  days  of
    26  session,  provided  however,  that  such  scheduling shall not alter the
    27  obligation of the school district to provide transportation to  students
    28  in  non-public elementary and secondary schools or charter schools. [The
    29  commissioner shall excuse a deficiency not exceeding  four  days  during
    30  such school year caused by teachers' attendance upon conferences held by
    31  such  superintendents,  provided  that  at] At least two such conference
    32  days during such school year shall be dedicated to staff attendance upon
    33  conferences providing staff development relating  to  implementation  of
    34  the new high learning standards and assessments, as adopted by the board
    35  of  regents.  Notwithstanding  any other provision of law, rule or regu-
    36  lation to the contrary, school districts may elect to use one or more of
    37  such allowable conference days in units of not less than one  hour  each
    38  to  provide  staff  development activities relating to implementation of
    39  the new high learning standards and assessments. A district making  such
    40  election may provide such staff development [during the regularly sched-
    41  uled  daily  session]  on  any day during which sessions are allowed and
    42  apply such units to satisfy a deficiency in the length of  one  or  more
    43  daily  sessions of instruction for pupils as specified in regulations of
    44  the commissioner. The commissioner shall  assure  that  such  conference
    45  days  include  appropriate  school  violence prevention and intervention
    46  training, and may require that up to one such conference  day  be  dedi-
    47  cated for such purpose.
    48    § 2. Subdivisions 7-a and 7-b of section 3604 of the education law are
    49  REPEALED.
    50    § 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2019.