What's happening
This bill requires that only children living in the local school district where a charter school is located are eligible for admission.
Why it matters
Restricts access to charter schools. by requiring that only children who live within the local school district (or community district in NYC) where the charter is located may apply, effectively closing enrollment to students from neighboring districts.
Could increase competition for limited charter seats. among local families, as the applicant pool is now limited to district residents, potentially intensifying demand and changing the lottery dynamics.
May impact diversity and school choice. by reducing the ability of families from other districts to seek alternatives to their local public schools, which could affect both the demographic composition and perceived quality of charter schools.
Potentially affects school funding and district planning. , since charter enrollment would more closely mirror district boundaries, leading to clearer predictions for district and charter school enrollments and possibly reducing cross-district funding complexities.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Limit Charter Schools to Locals
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
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
460
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY (Prefiled)
January 8, 2025
Introduced by M. of A. STECK -- read once and referred to the Committee on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to residency requirements for charter schools
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Paragraph (b) of subdivision 2 of section 2854 of the education law, as amended by section 3 of subpart A of part B of chapter 20 of the laws of 2015, is amended to read as follows:
(b) Any child who is qualified under the laws of this state for admission to a public school is qualified for admission to a charter school, provided that such child lives in the local school district in which the charter school is located. Applications for admission to a charter school shall be submitted on a uniform application form created by the department and shall be made available by a charter school in languages predominately spoken in the community in which such charter school is located. The school shall enroll each eligible student who submits a timely application by the first day of April each year, unless the number of applications exceeds the capacity of the grade level or building. In such cases, students shall be accepted from among applicants by a random selection process, provided, however, that an enrollment preference shall be provided to pupils returning to the charter school in the second or any subsequent year of operation and pupils residing in the school district in which the charter school is located, and siblings of pupils already enrolled in the charter school. Preference may also be provided to children of employees of the charter school or charter management organization, provided that such children of employees may constitute no more than fifteen percent of the charter school's total enrollment. The commissioner shall establish regulations to require that the random selection process conducted pursuant to this paragraph be
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02520-01-5
performed in a transparent and equitable manner and to require that the time and place of the random selection process be publicized in a manner consistent with the requirements of section one hundred four of the public officers law and be open to the public. For the purposes of this paragraph and paragraph (a) of this subdivision, the school district in which the charter school is located shall mean, for the city school district of the city of New York, the community district in which the charter school is located.
§ 2. This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law.
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.