What's happening
This bill requires regular reporting on the educational outcomes of homeless students and the development of policies to better support them.
Why it matters
Mandates detailed tracking and public reporting. of key educational metrics (like test scores, graduation rates, absenteeism, suspensions) for homeless students, which can uncover achievement gaps and areas needing targeted support.
Requires data breakdowns by race, ethnicity, income, disability, language status, and gender. , helping ensure that interventions can be tailored to the specific needs of the most vulnerable subgroups among homeless students.
Compels the state to collaborate with community and policy experts. to create a comprehensive, research-informed strategy for supporting homeless students, potentially leading to more effective use of federal resources and improved outcomes.
Could drive accountability and resource allocation. by making the educational challenges faced by homeless students more visible to lawmakers, advocates, and the public, thereby prompting more responsive policy and funding decisions.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Track Homeless Student Progress
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
1 Co-sponsor
History
- Referred 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.
Help Homeless Students Succeed
In Assembly Committee · Education · Sponsor Alicia Hyndman
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
349
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE (Prefiled)
January 9, 2019
Introduced by Sen. FELDER -- 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 improving educational outcomes for homeless school age children
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Subdivision 10 of section 3209 of the education law is renumbered subdivision 12 and two new subdivisions 10 and 11 are added to read as follows:
10. a. By January thirty-first, two thousand ` twenty-one, and every odd-numbered year thereafter, the commissioner shall submit to the governor and the legislature a report including, but not limited to:
(1) the number of identified homeless school age children enrolled in public schools;
(2) the academic performance and educational outcomes of homeless school age children, including but not limited to the following:
(i) student scores on the statewide administered academic assessments;
(ii) English language proficiency;
(iii) dropout rates;
(iv) four-year adjusted graduation rate;
(v) five-year adjusted graduation rate;
(vi) absenteeism rates;
(vii) truancy rates, if available; and
(viii) suspension and expulsion data.
b. The data reported pursuant to paragraph a of this subdivision must include state and district-level information and must be disaggregated by at least the following subgroups of school age children: white, black, Hispanic, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Asian, Pacific Islander/Hawaiian Native, low income, transitional bilingual, migrant, special education, and gender.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02611-01-9
S. 349 2
11. The commissioner, in collaboration with experts from community organizations on homelessness and homeless education policy, shall develop a homeless education policy on how to better provide services and support to homeless school age children and on how to utilize federal title I funding.
§ 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 improving educational outcomes for homeless school age children
Purpose
To require the data on educational outcomes of homeless students avail- able to the governor and the legislature.
Summary of provisions
Section 1 Subdivision 7 of section 3209 of the education law is renum- bered subdivision 9 and new subdivisions 7 and 8 are added as follows:
7. a. The Commissioner shall submit to the governor and the legislature a report including, but not limited to:
(a) the number of identified homeless students enrolled in public schools;
(b) the academic performance and educational outcomes of homeless students, including but not limited to:
(i) student scoring on the statewide administered academic assessments
(ii) English language proficiency
(iii) dropout rates
(iv) four-year adjusted graduation rate
b. The data must include state and district-level information and must be disaggregated by race, low income, gender, etc.
8. The Commissioner, in collaboration with experts from community organ- izations on homelessness and homeless education policy, shall develop a homeless education policy.
Section 2: The enactment of this clause.
Justification
According to the New York Times article on February 21, 2014, the State Education Department reported that more than 80,000 school-age children in New York City were identified as homeless during the last academic year. While the homeless student population has grown since the finan- cial crisis in 2008, homeless students often have difficulty accessing education and staying in school. A study found that only one-third of homeless students read at a grade level compared to more than half of their same-aged peers (Rescorla et al., 1991), Nationally, one-fifth of homeless children repeat a grade in school, and sixteen percent are enrolled in special education classes (Institute for Children and Pover- ty, 2001).
While identifying homeless students is important, their educational outcomes have to be evaluated in order to increase understandingi4bo4their educational barriers. This legislation would allow data collection on the academic performance and educational outcomes of homeless students, including but not limited to: test scores on the statewide administered academic assessments; dropout rates; four- year graduation rate; five-year graduation rate; suspension and expul- sion data. The data must include state and district-level information and must be disaggregated by ethnicity, income level, gender, special education, etc. This legislation would also require the Commissioner of the State Education Department to develop homeless education policy in collaboration with experts from non-for-profit organization on how to better provide support services to homeless students and on how to utilize Title I funding to achieve desirable outcomes.
Legislative history
2017-18: S2106A
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.