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History
- Print number 6720a
- Amend (t) and recommit to education
- Referred to education
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Authorizes the Cohoes and Watervliet city school districts to require minors five years of age to attend kindergarten
In Senate Committee · Education · Sponsor John T. McDonald III
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the education law, in relation to authorizing the city school districts of Cohoes and Watervliet to require minors five years of age to attend kindergarten
Purpose or general idea of bill
Authorizes the Cohoes and Watervliet city school districts to require minors five years of age to attend kindergarten
Summary of specific provisions
Section 1 gives authorization to the Cohoes city school district and Watervliet city school district to make kindergarten compulsory for all five-year-olds, except for those children whose parents choose not to enroll them until the following September.
Section 2 sets forth the effective date.
Justification
Kindergarten is one of the many components of early intervention that our education system uses to get students on the right track and prepared for the rest of their education. The City of Cohoes School District and the City of Watervliet School District provide full day kindergarten programs to help children receive the educational benefits and longer term successes that early education provides.
Unfortunately, many children of kindergarten age are absent from school because their attendance is not required. The Cohoes and Watervliet School Boards passed resolutions emphasizing the need for quality early education and the positive impact required kindergarten attendance would have on the children in the community. This measure is designed to address the kindergarten attendance issue in the Cohoes City School District requiring five-year-old children to benefit from the District's kindergarten initiative for long-term academic success. Currently, Cohoes has an average absentee rate for kindergarten students of 26% between its three elementary schools. Although not as severe, Watervliet is facing a 5% absentee rate which is still impacting its students.
A similar provision in Education Law was adopted for the Syracuse City School District over 25 years ago and recently for the Rochester, New York City, Buffalo, and Utica School Districts.
Prior legislative history
None.
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.