What's happening
This bill updates requirements for school attendance, state aid eligibility, and instructional days, and repeals certain related provisions.
Why it matters
Clarifies and standardizes when children must begin full-time schooling,. tying school attendance to a child’s sixth birthday and the start of the school year, which could affect early childhood education choices and parental planning.
Revises state aid calculations to more clearly define the 180-day instructional requirement,. detailing specific exceptions (such as emergency closures and weather-related events) and potentially limiting flexibility for districts to claim aid for unscheduled days off, directly impacting school funding.
Updates how teacher conference days are counted and scheduled,. allowing districts to hold required staff development days in late August (subject to union agreements), and to count these days toward the 180-day minimum, which may change school calendars and professional development logistics for teachers.
Repeals certain prior provisions and consolidates rules for instructional time and conference days,. aiming to simplify compliance for districts but also requiring careful attention to new regulations to avoid loss of state aid.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Change School Attendance Rules
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
1 Co-sponsor
History
- Committed to rules
- Advanced to third reading
- 2nd report cal.
- 1st report cal.1466
- 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.
Clarify School Attendance Rules
In Assembly Committee · Education · Sponsor Catherine Nolan
Full text
3 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
8487
IN SENATE
May 9, 2018
Introduced by Sen. MARCELLINO -- 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 the attendance of minors upon full day instruction and the conditions under which districts are entitled to an apportionment of state aid; and repealing certain provisions of such law relating thereto
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Paragraph c of subdivision 1 and subparagraph (i) of paragraph c of subdivision 2 of section 3205 of the education law, paragraph c of subdivision 1 as amended by chapter 518 of the laws of 1993 and subparagraph (i) of paragraph c of subdivision 2 as amended by chapter 277 of the laws of 2017, are amended to read as follows:
c. For purposes of this article, a minor who becomes six years of age on or before the first of December in any school year shall be required to attend upon full time instruction from the first day that the [appropriate] public schools are in session [in September of] for such school year, and a minor who becomes six years of age after the first of December in any school year shall be required to attend upon full time instruction from the first day of session in the following [September] school year; and, except as otherwise provided in subdivision three of this section, shall be required to remain in attendance until the last day of session in the school year in which the minor becomes sixteen years of age.
(i) Minors whose parents elect not to enroll their children in school until the following [September] school year.
§ 2. Subdivisions 7 and 8 of section 3604 of the education law, subdivision 7 as amended by section 3 of part B of chapter 54 of the laws of 2016 and subdivision 8 as amended by chapter 260 of the laws of 2012, are amended to read as follows:
7. No district shall be entitled to any portion of such school moneys on such apportionment unless the report of the trustees or board of education for the preceding school year shall show that the public schools were actually in session in the district and taught by a quali-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14821-03-8
S. 8487 2
fied teacher or by successive qualified teachers or by qualified teachers for not less than one hundred eighty days. The moneys payable to a school district pursuant to section thirty-six hundred nine-a of this chapter in the current year shall be reduced by one one-hundred eightieth of the district's total foundation aid for the base year for each day less than one hundred eighty days that the schools of the district were actually in session, except that the commissioner may disregard such reduction[, up to five days,] in the apportionment of public money, (i) for any day on which session had been previously scheduled but the superintendent was required to close the school or schools due to a properly executed declaration of a state or local state of emergency pursuant to article two-B of the executive law or (ii) for up to five days if he or she finds that the schools of the district were not in session for one hundred eighty days because of extraordinarily adverse weather conditions, impairment of heating facilities, insufficiency of water supply, shortage of fuel, lack of electricity, natural gas leakage, unacceptable levels of chemical substances, a credible threat to student safety as reasonably determined by a lead school official or the destruction of a school building either in whole or in part, and if, further, the commissioner finds that such district cannot make up such days of instruction by using for the secondary grades all scheduled vacation days which occur prior to the first scheduled regents examination day in June, and for the elementary grades all scheduled vacation days which occur prior to the last scheduled regents examination day in June. For the purposes of this subdivision, "scheduled vacation days" shall mean days on which the schools of the district are not in session and for which no prohibition exists in subdivision eight of this section for them to be in session.
8. No school shall be in session on a Saturday or a legal holiday, except general election day, Washington's birthday and Lincoln's birthday, and except that driver education classes may be conducted on a Saturday.
8-a. A deficiency not exceeding four days during any school year caused by teachers' attendance upon conferences held by superintendents of schools of city school districts or other school districts employing superintendents of schools shall be excused by the commissioner, notwithstanding any provision of law, rule or regulation to the contrary, a school district may elect to schedule such conference days in the last two weeks of August, subject to collective bargaining requirements pursuant to article fourteen of the civil service law, and such days shall be counted towards the required one hundred eighty days of session, provided however, that such scheduling shall not alter the obligation of the school district to provide transportation to students in non-public elementary and secondary schools or charter schools. [The commissioner shall excuse a deficiency not exceeding four days during such school year caused by teachers' attendance upon conferences held by such superintendents, provided that at] At least two such conference days during such school year shall be dedicated to staff attendance upon conferences providing staff development relating to implementation of the new high learning standards and assessments, as adopted by the board of regents. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, rule or regulation to the contrary, school districts may elect to use one or more of such allowable conference days in units of not less than one hour each to provide staff development activities relating to implementation of the new high learning standards and assessments. A district making such election may provide such staff development [during the regularly sched-
S. 8487 3
uled daily session] on any day during which sessions are allowed and apply such units to satisfy a deficiency in the length of one or more daily sessions of instruction for pupils as specified in regulations of the commissioner. The commissioner shall assure that such conference days include appropriate school violence prevention and intervention training, and may require that up to one such conference day be dedicated for such purpose.
§ 3. Subdivisions 7-a and 7-b of section 3604 of the education law are REPEALED.
§ 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2018.
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 attendance of minors upon full day instruction and the conditions under which districts are entitled to an apportionment of state aid; and repealing certain provisions of such law relating thereto
Purpose
The proposed legislation would provide flexibility to school districts when preparing their school district calendar so that they meet the minimum number of instructional hours for State aid purposes and will eliminate any penalties to school districts who are forced to close a scheduled day of session because of a State or local emergency.
Summary of provisions
Section 1 of the bill would amend § 3205(2)(c)(i)(1) of the Education Law to authorize school districts, at their local discretion, to commence the first day of session for a school year prior to September.
Read the full memo (950 words)
Section 2 of the bill would amend § 3604(7) and (8) of the Education Law to allow school districts to count toward the minimum instructional time for State aid purposes any day on which session had been previously scheduled but the superintendent was required to close the school or schools due to a properly executed declaration of a state or local state of emergency pursuant to Article 2-B of the Executive Law.
This section would also calculate the penalty for failing to meet the minimum requirement using aid levels from the year in which the violation occurred, instead of at the time of the reporting.
Section 3 would repeal subdivisions 7-a and 7-b of the education law regarding school year specific State aid reduction calculation disre- gards and amend subdivision 8-a to clarify current requirements that school districts are authorized to count four superintendent conference days toward the 180-days of instruction requirement for State aid purposes.
Justification
Education Law § 3604 requires that school districts be in session for 180 days, or be at risk of losing State aid. During the 2016-2017 school year, the Department received a number of concerns through the Fraud, Waste, and Abuse hotline relating to some districts not fully complying with the 180-day requirement, despite reporting compliance to the State Aid Office. At the same time, many questions arose from the Governor's declaration of a statewide snow emergency in March 2017 during which all State agencies were closed. As a result of these two circumstances, in April 2017 the State Aid Office at State Education Department (SED) issued a guidance memorandum to districts, reminding them of the rules associated with the 180-day requirement. This memo generated a number of questions and concerns in the field.
In an effort to provide greater clarity to the field and implement any necessary updates to the rules to adjust to modem practices, the Depart- ment convened a 180-day Advisory Committee to recommend possible statu- tory and regulatory amendments to streamline, clarify, and modernize the existing 180-day instructional requirement for State Aid purposes. Indi- viduals from a wide range of stakeholder groups from across the State, including over 120 school districts, participated in either the Advisory Committee and/or in five regional meetings or a questionnaire to provide feedback to the Department on these issues. The five regional meetings were held in:
*New York City (NYC and Hudson Valley) *Long Island *Batavia (Western New York, Finger Lakes, and Southern Tier) *Albany (Capital District, Central New York, Mohawk Valley) *Canton (North Country)
Through the Advisory Committee process and the regional meetings held across the State, it became apparent that there are multiple factors that are considered in the development of a school district calendar, and school districts requested additional flexibility in the laws and regulations to meet the 180-day instructional requirement. Based on the feedback from the Advisory Committee, the Department has begun the proc- ess of amending Part 175 of the Commissioner's regulations to provide additional flexibility to school districts to meet the 180-day require- ment. However, some of the Advisory Committee's concerns require statu- tory changes.
The Advisory Committee also recommended legislative changes. One concern raised by the Advisory Committee was that during adverse weather or other conditions, school district officials may be prohibited by other municipal and State officials from holding school in session, and it is at times unfair to force districts to make up those days. This bill would allow districts to count toward the 180-day requirement any day on which session had been previously scheduled, but the superintendent was required to close the school or schools due to a properly executed declaration of a state or local state of emergency pursuant to Article 2-B of the Executive Law.
The Advisory Committee also recommended pursuing legislative changes to allow districts, at their local discretion, to schedule session days outside of the traditional Labor Day through Rating Day time period. This bill would provide districts with flexibility to allow districts to hold session commencing July and August so that if the 180-days are not fully utilized, districts will now be able to provide additional days off or additional instructional days toward the end of the school year at their local discretion. Districts shall, however, continue to work with their calendar committees and communities to review their scheduled breaks and snow day assumptions, knowing that snow day contingencies are best incorporated into the school calendar.
The bill also clarifies possible confusion resulting from existing stat- utory language. Education Law § 3604 currently contains language in two places which references the authorization for districts to count four superintendent conference days toward the 180-day instructional require- ment. The bill clarifies the current requirement that only four super- intendent conference days may be counted, not eight.
Legislative history
New Bill.
Effective date
This act shall take effect July 1, 2018.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.