What's happening
This bill requires that students with disabilities who receive extended testing time take no more than one Regents exam per day.
Why it matters
Addresses the unique challenges faced by students with disabilities who are entitled to extended testing time. , recognizing that being required to take multiple Regents exams in one day can result in excessively long and exhausting testing periods (sometimes up to 11 hours).
Seeks to improve fairness and accessibility in standardized testing by mandating a scheduling change. , ensuring that these students are given a reasonable opportunity to perform to the best of their abilities without undue fatigue or stress.
Balances concerns about exam security. (i.e., the risk of students sharing exam content if tests are administered on different days) with the well-being of students, ultimately prioritizing student health and educational equity.
May set a precedent for further accommodations in high-stakes testing environments. , signaling increased legislative attention to the intersection of disability rights and educational policy.
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Who cares
Students with extended testing time under an IEP or Section 504
The bill would give them the opportunity to take only one Regents examination per day rather than face multiple exams with extended testing hours.
School districts and Regents exam administrators
They would need to administer exams in accordance with new state guidelines allowing eligible students to take only one Regents examination per day.
- Likely concerns
State Education Department
The commissioner would be required to issue regulations establishing the guidelines, with the bill acknowledging the department’s exam-security concerns about alternate testing days.
Headline styles
Limit Regents Exams Per Day
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
Assembly Member · Assembly District 111
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to education
- Referred to education
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
1131
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 9, 2025
Introduced by M. of A. SANTABARBARA -- read once and referred to the Committee on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to the administration of exams to students with disabilities
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Legislative findings and intent. The legislature finds that certain students with disabilities are allowed extended testing time according to their individual education program, or perhaps even accommodations provided pursuant to regulations promulgated under section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The legislature further finds that these students, as a result of this extended time allowance, are being subjected to ten or eleven straight hours of testing when they are required to take two regents exams on the same date.
The legislature acknowledges the department of education's need for security concerning the substance of the examination. As such, the legislature understands the department's continuing hesitance to allow these students with disabilities to take the exams on days other than which they had been officially scheduled.
However, the benefits of providing these children with respite between each exam far outweighs the potential of one of these students garnering information about the exam from another student who had previously taken the exam. Therefore, it is the intent of this legislature to have the commissioner of education implement a process whereby students with certain disabilities are not required to take more than one regents examination in any given day.
§ 2. The education law is amended by adding a new section 319 to read as follows:
§ 319. Examination of students with disabilities. The commissioner shall promulgate regulations establishing guidelines which provide that any child who has extended testing time provisions on such child's indi-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01481-01-5
vidualized education program, or who receives extended testing time accommodations pursuant to section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, is provided an opportunity to only take one regents examination on any given day.
§ 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment, and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed on or before such effective date.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.