Bill Text: NY A10731 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced


Bill Title: Relates to admission to the specialized high schools in the city of New York; removes the discovery program admission process.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-07-08 - referred to education [A10731 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-A10731-Introduced.html



                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          10731

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                      July 8, 2020
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  COMMITTEE  ON  RULES  -- (at request of M. of A. Mosley,
          Barron, Blake, Epstein, Simon, Wright) -- read once  and  referred  to
          the Committee on Education

        AN  ACT  to  amend  the  education  law, in relation to admission to the
          specialized high schools in the city of New York

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1. Legislative findings. Since the enactment of the Hecht-Ca-
     2  landra Act in 1971, the New York city school district has not been  able
     3  to  make  decisions  about  admissions  to its specialized high schools.
     4  Instead, as a result of the Hecht-Calandra Act, the city school district
     5  has been required to base admission decisions to  its  specialized  high
     6  schools on only one criterion for admission - a student's performance on
     7  a  single  standardized  exam. As a result of the use of this criterion,
     8  known as the  specialized  high  school  admissions  test  (SHSAT),  the
     9  student  population of the specialized high schools does not reflect the
    10  diversity of the City's population. Whereas the  overall  percentage  of
    11  Black  and Latino students in the city's public schools is approximately
    12  sixty-seven percent, Black  and  Latino  students  only  represent  nine
    13  percent  of  the  population  of the specialized schools. This disparity
    14  hurts Black and Latino students and  it  also  harms  the  students  who
    15  attend  the  specialized high schools, who do not reap the intellectual,
    16  emotional and social benefits from learning in a more  diverse  environ-
    17  ment.  Furthermore, the city school district is alone in its reliance on
    18  a  single  metric  to  make admission decisions. Universities across the
    19  country consider multiple factors when selecting their incoming  student
    20  body;  selective  institutions  do  not  rely on the results of a single
    21  exam. It is time for the city school district to  follow  suit  and  for
    22  admissions  to  no  longer  be based on the procedures prescribed in the
    23  Hecht-Calandra Act. This legislation will allow the city school district
    24  to develop its own admissions criteria for specialized high schools,  as
    25  it  develops  admissions criteria for other schools within the district,
    26  and ensure that high-performing and talented students  across  all  five
    27  boroughs have the opportunity to attend its specialized high schools.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD13454-02-0

        A. 10731                            2

     1    § 2. Paragraph (b) of subdivision 1 of section 2590-h of the education
     2  law,  as  amended by chapter 345 of the laws of 2009, is amended to read
     3  as follows:
     4    (b)  all  specialized [senior] high schools. The [special] specialized
     5  high schools shall include the [present] schools known as[:]  The  Bronx
     6  High  School of Science, Stuyvesant High School, Brooklyn Technical High
     7  School, Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music [and the Arts in  the
     8  borough  of  Manhattan]  &  Art  and Performing Arts, and such [further]
     9  additional schools [which the city board may designate] as may be desig-
    10  nated by the chancellor from time to time[. The special schools shall be
    11  permitted to maintain a discovery program in accordance with the law  in
    12  effect  on the date preceding the effective date of this section; admis-
    13  sions to the special schools shall be conducted in accordance  with  the
    14  law in effect on the date preceding the effective date of this section];
    15    § 3. Paragraph (b) of subdivision 1 of section 2590-h of the education
    16  law,  as  amended by chapter 720 of the laws of 1996, is amended to read
    17  as follows:
    18    (b) all specialized [senior] high schools. The  [special]  specialized
    19  high  schools  shall include the [present] schools known as[:] The Bronx
    20  High School of Science, Stuyvesant High School, Brooklyn Technical  High
    21  School,  Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music [and the Arts in the
    22  borough of Manhattan] & Art and  Performing  Arts,  and  such  [further]
    23  additional schools [which the city board may designate] as may be desig-
    24  nated by the chancellor from time to time[. The special schools shall be
    25  permitted  to maintain a discovery program in accordance with the law in
    26  effect on the date preceding the effective date of this section;  admis-
    27  sions  to  the special schools shall be conducted in accordance with the
    28  law in effect on the date preceding the effective date of this section];
    29    § 4. This act shall take effect on January 1, 2022, provided that  the
    30  amendments  to  paragraph  (b) of subdivision 1 of section 2590-h of the
    31  education law made by section two of this act shall be  subject  to  the
    32  expiration  and  reversion of such section pursuant to subdivision 12 of
    33  section 17 of chapter 345 of the laws of 2009,  as  amended,  when  upon
    34  such date the provisions of section three of this act shall take effect.
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