STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 9933 IN SENATE October 18, 2024 ___________ Introduced by Sen. COONEY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to establishing Diwali as a school holiday The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision 8 of section 3604 of the education law, as 2 amended by chapter 359 of the laws of 2023, is amended to read as 3 follows: 4 8. No school shall be in session on a Saturday, the first day of the 5 second lunar month after the winter solstice in the preceding calendar 6 year known as Asian Lunar New Year, the fifteenth day of the eighth 7 month of the Indian calendar in each year, known as Diwali, or a legal 8 holiday, except general election day, Washington's birthday and 9 Lincoln's birthday, and except that driver education classes may be 10 conducted on a Saturday. A deficiency not exceeding four days during any 11 school year caused by teachers' attendance upon conferences held by 12 superintendents of schools of city school districts or other school 13 districts employing superintendents of schools shall be excused by the 14 commissioner, notwithstanding any provision of law, rule or regulation 15 to the contrary, a school district may elect to schedule such conference 16 days in the last two weeks of August, subject to collective bargaining 17 requirements pursuant to article fourteen of the civil service law, and 18 such days shall be counted towards the required one hundred eighty days 19 of session, provided however, that such scheduling shall not alter the 20 obligation of the school district to provide transportation to students 21 in non-public elementary and secondary schools or charter schools. At 22 least two such conference days during such school year shall be dedi- 23 cated to staff attendance upon conferences providing staff development 24 relating to implementation of the new high learning standards and 25 assessments, as adopted by the board of regents. Notwithstanding any 26 other provision of law, rule or regulation to the contrary, school 27 districts may elect to use one or more of such allowable conference days 28 in units of not less than one hour each to provide staff development EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD16297-01-4

S. 9933 2 1 activities relating to implementation of the new high learning standards 2 and assessments. A district making such election may provide such staff 3 development on any day during which sessions are allowed and apply such 4 units to satisfy a deficiency in the length of one or more daily 5 sessions of instruction for pupils as specified in regulations of the 6 commissioner. The commissioner shall assure that such conference days 7 include appropriate school violence prevention and intervention train- 8 ing, and may require that up to one such conference day be dedicated for 9 such purpose. 10 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

Establishes Diwali as a school holiday

What's Happening

Why It Matters