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History
- Referred to education
- Referred to education
Companion bill
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Expands the authority of school boards and trustees of school districts to provide pupil transportation in child safety zones
In Assembly Committee · Education · Sponsor David Weprin
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
BILL NUMBER:S3521
Title of bill
An act to amend the education law, in relation to expanding the authority of school boards and trustees of school districts to provide pupil transportation in child safety zones
Purpose or general idea of bill
To allow the NYC Department of Education to provide pupil transportation in child safety zones and extends the determination of hazardous zones to include areas where there is a lack of available public transportation.
Summary of specific provisions
Subdivision 1 of section 3635-b of the education law is amended to include city school districts with more than one million inhabitants.
Subdivision 3 of section 3635-b of the education law is amended to include areas where there is a lack of available public transportation.
Justification
Currently, the board of education in a school district with less than 125,000 inhabitants may adopt a resolution to make transportation available in areas determined to be child safety zones for resident students. In addition, the law provides that the Commissioner of Transportation, in consultation with the Commissioner of Education and the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles, shall establish the regulations for determining what is considered a hazardous zone such as factors including the existence or nonexistence of sidewalks, the type of road surface, the existence or nonexistence of traffic safety features among many factors.
This legislation extends the provision to include school districts with more than 1 million inhabitants and also provides that the lack of available public transportation should also be considered when determining what is a child safety zone.
The NYC Department of Education recently discontinued transportation services for in and 8th grade students, which has resulted in the need for these students to utilize the public transportation system.
In areas such as Rockaway Point in Queens and in Staten Island, where there is not only a lack of, but oftentimes, no available public transportation, this has provided for a dangerous and difficult situation for many students that now must walk to school in hazardous areas.
New York State law states that, while not required in a city school district, if transportation is provided, such transportation shall be offered equally to all students in like circumstances.
This legislation would allow the NYC Department of Education the ability to adopt a resolution to allow for transportation for students in areas that are deemed child safety zones and provide that one of the factors for that determination would be the lack of available public transportation, addressing the student transportation problems in Staten Island and Rockaway Point.
Prior legislative history
New Bill.
Fiscal implications
None.
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.