Fund Education and Family Programs

Section 1. This act enacts into law major components of legislation which are necessary to implement the state fiscal plan for the 2017-2018 state fiscal year. Each component is wholly contained within a Part identified as Parts A through V. The effective date for each particular provision contained within such Part is set forth in the last section of such Part. Any provision in any section contained within a Part, including the effective date of the Part, which makes a reference to a section "of this act", when used in connection with that particular component, shall be deemed to mean and refer to the corresponding section of the Part in which it is found. Section three of this act sets forth the general effective date of this act.

PART A

Intentionally Omitted

PART B

Intentionally Omitted

PART C

Section 1. Section 3209 of the education law, as amended by chapter 569 of the laws of 1994, paragraphs a and a-1 of subdivision 1 as amended and subdivision 2-a as added by chapter 101 of the laws of 2003, paragraph b of subdivision 3 as amended by section 28 of part B of chapter 57 of the laws of 2007, is amended to read as follows:

§ 3209. Education of homeless children. 1. Definitions.

a. Homeless child. For the purposes of this article, the term "homeless child" shall mean:

(1) a child or youth who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, including a child or youth who is:

(i) sharing the housing of other persons due to a loss of housing, economic hardship or a similar reason;

(ii) living in motels, hotels, trailer parks or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodations;

(iii) abandoned in hospitals; or

(iv) [awaiting foster care placement; or

(v)] a migratory child, as defined in subsection two of section thirteen hundred nine of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015, who qualifies as

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homeless under any of the provisions of clauses (i) through [(iv)] (iii) of this subparagraph or subparagraph two of this paragraph; [or]

(v) an unaccompanied youth, as defined in section seven hundred twenty-five of subtitle B of title VII of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act; or

(2) a child or youth who has a primary nighttime location that is:

(i) a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations including, but not limited to, shelters operated or approved by the state or local department of social services, and residential programs for runaway and homeless youth established pursuant to article nineteen-H of the executive law; or

(ii) a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings, including a child or youth who is living in a car, park, public space, abandoned building, substandard housing, bus or train stations or similar setting.

a-1. Exception. For the purposes of this article the term "homeless child" shall not include a child in a foster care placement or receiving educational services pursuant to subdivision four, five, six, six-a or seven of section thirty-two hundred two of this [article] part or pursuant to article eighty-one, eighty-five, eighty-seven or eighty-eight of this chapter.

b. Designator. The term "designator" shall mean:

(1) the parent or the person in parental relation to a homeless child; or

(2) the homeless child, if no parent or person in parental relation is available; or

(3) the director of a residential program for runaway and homeless youth established pursuant to article nineteen-H of the executive law, in consultation with the homeless child, where such homeless child is living in such program.

c. School district of origin. The term "school district of origin" shall mean the school district within the state of New York in which the homeless child was attending a public school or preschool on a tuitionfree basis or was entitled to attend when circumstances arose which caused such child to become homeless, which is different from the school district of current location. [Whenever the school district of origin is designated pursuant to subdivision two of this section, the child shall be entitled to return to the school building where previously enrolled.] School district of origin shall also mean the school district in the state of New York in which the child was residing when circumstances arose which caused such child to become homeless if such child was eligible to apply, register, or enroll in public preschool or kindergarten at the time such child became homeless, or the homeless child has a sibling who attends a school in the school district in which the child was residing when circumstances arose which caused such child to become homeless.

d. School district of current location. The term "school district of current location" shall mean the public school district within the state of New York in which the hotel, motel, shelter or other temporary housing arrangement of a homeless child, or the residential program for runaway and homeless youth, is located, which is different from the school district of origin. [Whenever the school district of current location is designated pursuant to subdivision two of this section, the child shall be entitled to attend the school that is zoned for his or her temporary location or any school that nonhomeless students who live

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in the same attendance zone in which the homeless child or youth is temporarily residing are entitled to attend.]

e. Regional placement plan. The term "regional placement plan" shall mean a comprehensive regional approach to the provision of educational placements for homeless children which has been approved by the commissioner.

f. Feeder school. The term "feeder school" shall mean:

(1) a preschool whose students are entitled to attend a specified elementary school or group of elementary schools upon completion of that preschool;

(2) a school whose students are entitled to attend a specified elementary, middle, intermediate, or high school or group of specified elementary, middle, intermediate, or high schools upon completion of the terminal grade of such school; or

(3) a school that sends its students to a receiving school in a neighboring school district pursuant to section two thousand forty of this chapter.

g. Preschool. The term "preschool" shall mean a publicly funded prekindergarten program administered by the department or a local educational agency or a Head Start program administered by a local educational agency and/or services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act administered by a local educational agency.

h. Receiving school. The term "receiving school" shall mean:

(1) a school that enrolls students from a specified or group of preschools, elementary schools, middle schools, intermediate schools, or high schools; or

(2) a school that enrolls students from a feeder school in a neighboring local educational agency pursuant to section two thousand forty of this chapter.

i. School of origin. The term "school of origin" shall mean a public school that a child or youth attended when permanently housed, or the school in which the child or youth was last enrolled, including a preschool or a charter school. Provided that, for a homeless child or youth who completes the final grade level served by the school of origin, the term "school of origin" shall include the designated receiving school at the next grade level for all feeder schools. Where the child is eligible to attend school in the school district of origin because the child becomes homeless after such child is eligible to apply, register, or enroll in the public preschool or kindergarten or the child is living with a school-age sibling who attends school in the school district of origin, the school of origin shall include any public school or preschool in which such child would have been entitled or eligible to attend based on such child's last residence before the circumstances arose which caused such child to become homeless.

2. Choice of district and school.

a. The designator shall have the right to designate one of the following as the school district within which the homeless child shall be entitled to attend upon instruction:

(1) the school district of current location;

(2) the school district of origin; or

(3) a school district participating in a regional placement plan.

b. The designator shall also have the right to designate one of the following as the school where a homeless child seeks to attend for instruction:

(1) the school of origin; or

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(2) any school that nonhomeless children and youth who live in the attendance area in which the child or youth is actually living are eligible to attend, including a preschool.

c. (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, where the public school district in which a homeless child is temporarily housed is the [same school district the child was attending on a tuition-free basis or was entitled to attend when circumstances arose which caused the child to become homeless] school district of origin, the homeless child shall be entitled to attend the schools of such district without the payment of tuition in accordance with subdivision one of section thirty-two hundred two of this article for the duration of the homelessness and until the end of the school year in which such child becomes permanently housed and for one additional year if that year constitutes the child's terminal year in such building. [Such child may choose to remain in the public school building they previously attended until the end of the school year and for one additional year if that year constitutes the child's terminal year in such building in lieu of the school serving the attendance zone in which the temporary housing facility is located.]

(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, where the [public] school [or school district] district of origin or school of origin that a homeless child was attending on a tuition-free basis or was entitled to attend when circumstances arose which caused the child to become homeless is located [outside the state] in New York state and the homeless child's temporary housing arrangement is located in a contiguous state, the homeless child shall be [deemed a resident of the school district in which the hotel, motel, shelter or other temporary housing arrangement of the child is currently located and shall be] entitled to [attend the schools of such district without payment of tuition in accordance with subdivision one of section thirty-two hundred two of this article. Such district of residence shall not be considered a school district of origin or a school district of current location for purposes of this section] attend the school of origin or any school that nonhomeless children and youth who live in the attendance area in which the child or youth is actually living are eligible to attend, including a preschool, subject to a best interest determination pursuant to subparagraph three of paragraph f of this subdivision, for the duration of the homelessness and until the end of the school year in which such child becomes permanently housed and for one additional year if that year constitutes the child's terminal year in such building.

(3) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, where the child's temporary housing arrangement is located in New York state, the homeless child shall be entitled to attend the school of origin or any school that nonhomeless children and youth who live in the attendance area in which the child or youth is actually living are eligible to attend, including a preschool, subject to a best interest determination pursuant to subparagraph three of paragraph f of this subdivision, for the duration of the homelessness and until the end of the school year in which such child becomes permanently housed and for one additional year if that year constitutes the child's terminal year in such building.

[c.] d. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph a of this subdivision, a homeless child who has designated the school district of current location as the district of attendance and who has relocated to another temporary housing arrangement outside of such district, or to a different attendance zone or community school district within such district, shall be entitled to continue [the prior designation to enable the

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student to remain] to attend in the same school building or designate any school that nonhomeless children and youth who live in the attendance area in which the child or youth is actually living are eligible to attend, including a preschool, subject to a best interest determination in accordance with subparagraph three of paragraph f of this subdivision, for the duration of the homelessness and until the end of the school year in which the child becomes permanently housed and for one additional year if that year constitutes the child's terminal year in such building.