What's happening
This bill allows excess funds over $2.5 million from the tuition reimbursement account to be transferred to the vocational school supervision account.
Why it matters
Provides financial flexibility for vocational school oversight. By allowing excess funds from the tuition reimbursement account to be transferred to the vocational school supervision account, the bill helps ensure that regulatory and oversight activities for proprietary vocational schools are adequately funded when there’s a surplus.
May impact support for students at private career schools. The tuition reimbursement account is intended to protect students if a school closes unexpectedly. Transferring surplus money may indicate that the fund is healthy, but it could also raise questions about whether enough is being set aside for potential future student claims.
Empowers the Commissioner of Education. The transfer of funds only occurs at the request of the commissioner, giving the state education department flexibility to address changing needs or priorities in vocational school supervision.
Potentially enhances oversight and quality standards. More funding for vocational school supervision could mean stronger enforcement of standards, potentially improving educational outcomes and consumer protection for students attending these schools.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Transfer Extra School Funds
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to higher education
- Referred to higher 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.
Move Surplus Tuition Funds
In Senate Committee · Higher Education · Sponsor Pamela Harris
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
6510
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
May 30, 2017
Introduced by Sen. LAVALLE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Higher Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to the transfer of certain funds from the licensed private career schools tuition reimbursement account to the proprietary vocational school supervision account
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Subdivision 10 of section 5007 of the education law is amended by adding a new paragraph i to read as follows:
i. In the event that the net balance of the tuition reimbursement account is in excess of two million five hundred thousand dollars, as defined in paragraph a of this subdivision, any amount over two million five hundred thousand dollars shall be transferred directly to the proprietary vocational school supervision account upon request by the commissioner.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11773-02-7
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 the transfer of certain funds from the licensed private career schools tuition reimbursement account to the proprietary vocational school supervision account
Purpose
To allow the State Education Department to transfer funds from the tuition reimbursement account to the proprietary vocational school supervision account when the balance of the tuition reimbursement account exceeds $2.5 million.
Summary of provisions
Section 1. Adds a new paragraph i to subdivision 10 of section 5007 of the education law to allow the State Education Department to transfer funds from the tuition reimbursement account to the proprietary vocational school supervision upon request by the Commissioner when the balance of the tuition reimbursement account exceeds $2.5 million.
Justification
The State Education Department's (SED) Bureau of Proprietary School Supervision (BPSS) is responsible for licensing and monitoring the private "proprietary' schools in New York State to ensure that students receive a quality education and to protect the students' financial interests. BPSS is also in charge of investigating student complaints and conducting comprehensive investigations of proprietary schools to assure compliance with education law and SED regulations.
Unfortunately, BPSS has been faced with limited resources making it difficult for the office to carry out its functions. Currently, there are nearly 500 licensed proprietary schools in New York and that number is growing each month. BPSS is facing extremely high caseloads for educational technical assistance and backlogs in licensure renewals and investigations of complaints. BPSS has no resources to investigate unlicensed proprietary schools engaging in unlawful activities.
This legislation would allow SED to transfer funds from the tuition reimbursement account, which has funding above and beyond what is needed to ensure student protection, to the proprietary school supervision account. Transferring this funding to the proprietary school supervision account would allow BPSS to work to reduce educational technical assistance caseloads, reduce backlogs in complaint investigations, improve licensure renewal and other vital services, improve the quality of guidance provided to the public regarding this sector of higher education and improve the fiscal tracking of assessments, penalty payments and review of annual financial statements. BPSS would also be able to establish a more innovative method of curricular review and method of ensuring the continued educational quality of proprietary schools. Enacting this legislation would enhance BPSS's ability to fulfill its mission and would provide tremendous benefit for the students attending proprietary schools and the proprietary schools themselves.
Legislative history
New bill.
Fiscal implications
None to the State.
Effective date
Immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.