What's happening
This bill requires New York City school transportation contracts to include provisions for retaining or preferring current workers and preserving their wages, benefits, and seniority.
Why it matters
Protects job security and compensation for existing school transportation workers. By requiring new contracts to include provisions for retaining or preferring current employees and maintaining their wages, health, and retirement benefits, the bill aims to prevent wage cuts and job loss when contracts change hands.
Stabilizes workforce and service quality. Ensuring that experienced workers can keep their jobs and seniority reduces staff turnover, which can help maintain safety, reliability, and consistency for students who depend on school transportation.
Limits cost-cutting at workers’ expense. The bill prevents contractors from winning bids primarily by reducing labor costs (such as by offering lower wages or fewer benefits), thereby discouraging a “race to the bottom” that can undermine both worker livelihoods and service standards.
Sets a precedent for labor protections in public contracts. By mandating these labor standards specifically for New York City school transportation, the legislation could influence similar worker protection policies in other public service contracting across the state or in other sectors.
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Who cares
School transportation workers in New York City
The bill would require retention or hiring preferences for current and former contractors’ employees and preservation of wage levels, health and retirement benefits, and seniority.
School transportation contractors
Contractors would face employee retention or hiring preferences and compensation protections under contract provisions or chancellor regulations.
New York City school officials
The bill would require the school board to include worker protections in transportation contracts awarded through bidding or requests for proposals, or the chancellor to require those protections through regulations.
Headline styles
Protect School Bus Workers
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to education
- Referred to education
Full text
3 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
4199
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
February 6, 2017
Introduced by Sen. DILAN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to contracts for the transportation of school children
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Paragraph a of subdivision 14 of section 305 of the education law, as amended by chapter 273 of the laws of 1999, is amended to read as follows:
a. All contracts for the transportation of school children, all contracts to maintain school buses owned or leased by a school district that are used for the transportation of school children, all contracts for mobile instructional units, and all contracts to provide, maintain and operate cafeteria or restaurant service by a private food service management company shall be subject to the approval of the commissioner, who may disapprove a proposed contract if, in his opinion, the best interests of the district will be promoted thereby. Except as provided in paragraph e of this subdivision, all such contracts involving an annual expenditure in excess of the amount specified for purchase contracts in the bidding requirements of the general municipal law shall be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder, which responsibility shall be determined by the board of education or the trustee of a district, with power hereby vested in the commissioner to reject any or all bids if, in his opinion, the best interests of the district will be promoted thereby and, upon such rejection of all bids, the commissioner shall order the board of education or trustee of the district to seek, obtain and consider new proposals. Provided that notwithstanding any other provision of this subdivision: (i) the board of education of a school district located in a city with a population of one million or more shall include in contracts for the transportation of school children, whether awarded through competitive bidding or through evaluation of
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09227-01-7
S. 4199 2
proposals in response to a request for proposals pursuant to paragraph e of this subdivision, provisions for the retention or preference in hiring of employees previously or currently performing work for employers that have been or are parties to such contracts, in connection with such contracts, and provisions for the preservation of levels of wages, health and retirement benefits and seniority for employees of such employers, in connection with such contracts; or (ii) the chancellor of the city school district of the city of New York shall promulgate regulations requiring the retention or preference in hiring of employees previously or currently performing work for employers that have been or are parties to such contracts, in connection with such contracts, and provisions for the preservation of levels of wages, health and retirement benefits and seniority for employees of such employers, in connection with such contracts. All proposals for such transportation, maintenance, mobile instructional units, or cafeteria and restaurant service shall be in such form as the commissioner may prescribe. Advertisement for bids shall be published in a newspaper or newspapers designated by the board of education or trustee of the district having general circulation within the district for such purpose. Such advertisement shall contain a statement of the time when and place where all bids received pursuant to such advertisement will be publicly opened and read either by the school authorities or by a person or persons designated by them. All bids received shall be publicly opened and read at the time and place so specified. At least five days shall elapse between the first publication of such advertisement and the date so specified for the opening and reading of bids. The requirement for competitive bidding shall not apply to an award of a contract for the transportation of pupils or a contract for mobile instructional units, if such award is based on an evaluation of proposals in response to a request for proposals pursuant to paragraph e of this subdivision. The requirement for competitive bidding shall not apply to annual, biennial, or triennial extensions of a contract nor shall the requirement for competitive bidding apply to quadrennial or quinquennial year extensions of a contract involving transportation of pupils, maintenance of school buses or mobile instructional units secured either through competitive bidding or through evaluation of proposals in response to a request for proposals pursuant to paragraph e of this subdivision, when such extensions (1) are made by the board of education or the trustee of a district, under rules and regulations prescribed by the commissioner, and, (2) do not extend the original contract period beyond five years from the date cafeteria and restaurant service commenced thereunder and in the case of contracts for the transportation of pupils, for the maintenance of school buses or for mobile instructional units, that such contracts may be extended, except that power is hereby vested in the commissioner, in addition to his existing statutory authority to approve or disapprove transportation or maintenance contracts, (i) to reject any extension of a contract beyond the initial term thereof if he finds that amount to be paid by the district to the contractor in any year of such proposed extension fails to reflect any decrease in the regional consumer price index for the N.Y., N.Y.-Northeastern, N.J. area, based upon the index for all urban consumers (CPI-U) during the preceding twelve month period; and (ii) to reject any extension of a contract after ten years from the date transportation or maintenance service commenced thereunder, or mobile instructional units were first provided, if in his opinion, the best interests of the district will be promoted thereby. Upon such rejection of any proposed extension, the commissioner may
S. 4199 3
order the board of education or trustee of the district to seek, obtain and consider bids pursuant to the provisions of this section. The board of education or the trustee of a school district electing to extend a contract as provided herein, may, in its discretion, increase the amount to be paid in each year of the contract extension by an amount not to exceed the regional consumer price index increase for the N.Y., N.Y.-Northeastern, N.J. area, based upon the index for all urban consumers (CPI-U), during the preceding twelve month period, provided it has been satisfactorily established by the contractor that there has been at least an equivalent increase in the amount of his cost of operation, during the period of the contract.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the education law, in relation to contracts for the transportation of school children
Summary of provisions
Section one of this bill amends paragraph a of subdivision 14 of section 305 of the Education Law to require that either (i) the New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE) include in its contracts for school bus transportation for children in grades kindergarten through 12 provisions for the retention or preference in hiring and the preservation of levels of wages, health and retirement benefits and seniority of employees who perform or performed work for employers party to such contracts, in connection with such contracts; or (ii) the Chancellor of the NYC DOE promulgate regulations requiring the protections described above.
Section two would require that this bill take effect immediately.
Purpose
This proposal will allow NYC DOE to protect the experienced workforce in the kindergarten through 12 sector, whose employers' contracts had included EPPs until recently, from facing layoffs and drastic wage reductions.
Justification
For three decades beginning in 1979, NYC DOE contracts (including contract extensions) for the transportation of children in grades kindergarten through 12 included employee protection provisions (EPPs) requiring school transportation contractors, among other things, to give priority in hiring to employees who became unemployed because of their employers' loss of NYC DOE bus contract work and to pay such employees the same wages and benefits they had received prior to becoming unemployed.
Following the 2011 decision by the New York State Court of Appeals in L&M Bus Corp., et al., v. the New York City Department of Education, et al., NYC DOE did not include EPPs or similar provisions regarding job retention or compensation stability in solicitations for its school bus contracts for children in grades kindergarten through 12, which had included such provisions in its kindergarten through 12 bus contracts for over 30 years. (In contrast, bus contracts for children in pre-kindergarten and Early Intervention have never included such protections. This proposal would require NYC DOE to include provisions relating to the retention or preference in hiring, the preservation of levels of wages, health and retirement benefits, and seniority of employees who perform or performed work for employers party to NYC DOE's contracts for school bus transportation for children in grades kindergarten through 12 in solicitations for such contracts. In the alternative, the bill requires the NYC DOE Chancellor to promulgate regulations requiring the same protections. This proposal does not apply to transportation contracts for pre kindergarten and Early Intervention children.
Legislative history
2014 S.7899/A.10147: Referred to rules/education 2015-2016 S.1857: Referred to education
Fiscal implications
TBD
Effective date
Immediately
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.