Bill Text: NY S08847 | 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 5-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-07-29 - REFERRED TO RULES [S08847 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-S08847-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 8847 IN SENATE July 29, 2020 ___________ Introduced by Sens. SALAZAR, JACKSON -- 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 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. LBD13454-02-0S. 8847 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 the8borough 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 be11permitted to maintain a discovery program in accordance with the law in12effect on the date preceding the effective date of this section; admis-13sions to the special schools shall be conducted in accordance with the14law 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 the22borough 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 be25permitted to maintain a discovery program in accordance with the law in26effect on the date preceding the effective date of this section; admis-27sions to the special schools shall be conducted in accordance with the28law 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.