Bill Text: NY S05912 | 2009-2010 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Protects schools from losing school aid when directed to close to prevent the spread of an epidemic; authorizes the commissioner of education to disregard for state aid purposes a school's failure to be in session for up to five days of the one hundred eighty requirement attributable an epidemic or other public health emergency.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-01-06 - REFERRED TO EDUCATION [S05912 Detail]

Download: New_York-2009-S05912-Introduced.html

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                           S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
       ________________________________________________________________________
                                         5912
                              2009-2010 Regular Sessions
                                   I N  S E N A T E
                                     June 18, 2009
                                      ___________
       Introduced  by  Sen.  OPPENHEIMER  -- (at request of the State Education
         Department) -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to  be
         committed to the Committee on Rules
       AN  ACT  to  amend  the  education  law,  in relation to authorizing the
         commissioner of education to disregard  for  state  aid  purposes  the
         failure  of  a school to be in session for the required number of days
         due to an epidemic
         THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
       BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
    1    Section  1.  Subdivision  7  of  section 3604 of the education law, as
    2  amended by section 31 of part B of chapter 57 of the laws  of  2007,  is
    3  amended to read as follows:
    4    7.  No district shall be entitled to any portion of such school moneys
    5  on such apportionment unless the report of  the  trustees  or  board  of
    6  education  for  the  preceding  school  year  shall show that the public
    7  schools were actually in session in the district and taught by a  quali-
    8  fied  teacher or by successive qualified teachers or by qualified teach-
    9  ers for not less than one hundred eighty days. The moneys payable  to  a
   10  school  district  pursuant  to section thirty-six hundred nine-a of this
   11  chapter in the current year shall be reduced by one  one-hundred  eight-
   12  ieth  of  the district's total foundation aid for each day less than one
   13  hundred eighty days that the schools of the district  were  actually  in
   14  session,  except  that the commissioner may disregard such reduction, up
   15  to five days, in the apportionment of public money, if he finds that the
   16  schools of the district were not in session for one hundred eighty  days
   17  because  of  extraordinarily  adverse  weather conditions, impairment of
   18  heating facilities, insufficiency of water  supply,  shortage  of  fuel,
   19  lack  of electricity, natural gas leakage, unacceptable levels of chemi-
   20  cal substances, [or] the destruction of  a  school  building  either  in
   21  whole or in part, OR BECAUSE OF AN EPIDEMIC OR OTHER PUBLIC HEALTH EMER-
   22  GENCY  IN  WHICH  A SCHOOL IS CLOSED UPON RECOMMENDATION OR DIRECTION OF
        EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                             [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                  LBD11731-04-9
       S. 5912                             2
    1  STATE OR LOCAL PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICIALS, PROVIDED THAT  UP  TO  AN  ADDI-
    2  TIONAL  FIVE  DAYS  MAY BE EXCUSED BECAUSE OF AN EPIDEMIC WHERE STATE OR
    3  LOCAL PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICIALS HAVE RECOMMENDED OR DIRECTED CLOSURE OF  A
    4  SCHOOL  FOR A PERIOD OF MORE THAN FIVE SCHOOL DAYS, and if, further, the
    5  commissioner finds that such  district  cannot  make  up  such  days  of
    6  instruction  by  using  for  the secondary grades all scheduled vacation
    7  days which occur prior to the first scheduled regents examination day in
    8  June, and for the elementary grades all scheduled  vacation  days  which
    9  occur  prior  to the last scheduled regents examination day in June. For
   10  the purposes of this subdivision, "scheduled vacation days"  shall  mean
   11  days  on  which  the  schools of the district are not in session and for
   12  which no prohibition exists in subdivision eight  of  this  section  for
   13  them to be in session.
   14    S  2.  Notwithstanding  any  provision of law to the contrary, for the
   15  2008-2009 school year in applying the provisions  of  subdivision  7  of
   16  section 3604 of the education law and any other provisions of the educa-
   17  tion  law that require one hundred eighty days of session as a condition
   18  of aid, the commissioner of education may excuse a total  deficiency  of
   19  up  to ten days in meeting the requirement of one hundred eighty days of
   20  session for a school district that closed  one  or  more  schools  after
   21  consultation  with local health officials in response to the H1N1 (swine
   22  flu) virus epidemic, inclusive of the number of days excused pursuant to
   23  such subdivision 7 of section  3604  for  such  school  year  for  other
   24  reasons,  provided further that the commissioner of education finds that
   25  such district cannot make up such days of instruction by using  for  the
   26  secondary  grades  all  scheduled vacation days which occur prior to the
   27  first scheduled regents examination  day  in  June  2009,  and  for  the
   28  elementary  grades  all scheduled vacation days which occur prior to the
   29  last scheduled regents examination day in June 2009.
   30    S 3. This act shall take effect immediately;  provided,  however  that
   31  section  one  of this act shall take effect July 1, 2009 and shall apply
   32  to days of session in the 2009-2010 school year and thereafter.