Bill Text: NY S08304 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Amended

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Bill Title: Establishes that school districts can start classes up to three days before the first of September without losing department of education funding provided that the schools are in session for at least one hundred eighty days.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-06-20 - RECOMMITTED TO RULES [S08304 Detail]

Download: New_York-2017-S08304-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                         8304--A
                    IN SENATE
                                     April 27, 2018
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by Sen. PHILLIPS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee  on  Education  --  committee
          discharged  and  said  bill  committed  to  the  Committee on Rules --
          ordered to a third reading, amended and ordered  reprinted,  retaining
          its place in the order of third reading
        AN  ACT  to  amend  the  education  law,  in relation to allowing school
          districts to start classes before the first of September
          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 3 of part B of chapter 54 of the  laws  of  2016,  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.  Boards of education  and
    10  community  boards  of school districts in this state shall be authorized
    11  to start the school year up to three days before the first of September,
    12  provided, however, that such  school  year  consists  of  at  least  one
    13  hundred  eighty  days  as set forth in this subdivision; provided, addi-
    14  tionally that such authorization shall be subject to collective bargain-
    15  ing and such bargaining may be for the sole  purpose  of  adjusting  the
    16  instructional  start  of the school year. The moneys payable to a school
    17  district pursuant to section thirty-six hundred nine-a of this [chapter]
    18  part in the current year shall be reduced by one  one-hundred  eightieth
    19  of  the  district's  total  foundation  aid  for  each day less than one
    20  hundred eighty days that the schools of the district  were  actually  in
    21  session,  except  that the commissioner may disregard such reduction, up
    22  to five days, in the apportionment of public money, if he finds that the
    23  schools of the district were not in session for one hundred eighty  days
    24  because  of  extraordinarily  adverse  weather conditions, impairment of
    25  heating facilities, insufficiency of water  supply,  shortage  of  fuel,
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD15202-02-8
        S. 8304--A                          2
     1  lack  of electricity, natural gas leakage, unacceptable levels of chemi-
     2  cal substances, a credible threat to student safety as reasonably deter-
     3  mined by a lead school official or the destruction of a school  building
     4  either in whole or in part, and if, further, the commissioner finds that
     5  such  district  cannot make up such days of instruction by using for the
     6  secondary grades all scheduled vacation days which occur  prior  to  the
     7  first  scheduled regents examination day in June, and for the elementary
     8  grades all scheduled vacation days which occur prior to the last  sched-
     9  uled  regents examination day in June. For the purposes of this subdivi-
    10  sion, "scheduled vacation days" shall mean days on which the schools  of
    11  the  district  are not in session and for which no prohibition exists in
    12  subdivision eight of this section for them to be in session.
    13    § 2. This act shall take effect ninety days after it shall have become
    14  a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or  repeal  of
    15  any  rule  or regulation necessary for the implementation of this act on
    16  its effective date are authorized to be made and completed on or  before
    17  such date.