What's happening
This bill requires New York to create a school-based teen dating violence prevention program with educational materials for students, parents, and schools.
Why it matters
Brings coordinated expertise and community input. By requiring collaboration among the Education Department, Health Department, Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence, and community organizations, the program will be informed by specialists and those with direct experience, improving its relevance and effectiveness.
Establishes comprehensive, accessible resources. The law mandates the creation of model curriculums, lesson plans, and regularly updated instructional materials for students, parents, and school staff, aiming to ensure consistent, high-quality education about healthy relationships and dating violence warning signs.
Promotes transparency and equity. All educational materials must be made publicly available online and provided free to any school, including nonpublic and charter schools, removing cost barriers and ensuring broad access across New York.
Encourages ongoing school engagement and policy development. The bill directs annual reminders and official guidance to schools, encouraging them to partner with local organizations and adopt policies for responding to teen dating violence, helping to sustain attention and action at the local level.
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Who cares
State Education Department
The commissioner would establish the prevention program, define it in regulations, publish materials online and notify schools of available resources.
School districts, BOCES, charter schools and nonpublic schools
They could request free materials and would receive guidance encouraging collaboration with local organizations and policies for responding to teen dating violence.
Students, parents and school personnel
The program would provide resources on healthy relationships, warning signs of dating violence and local help for teens in abusive relationships.
Department of Health, Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and teen dating violence prevention organizations
They would collaborate with the education commissioner on developing the program, with the two state agencies also helping develop and periodically review instructional materials.
Headline styles
Prevent Teen Dating Violence
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
3 Co-sponsors
History
- Referred to education
- Referred to education
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
538
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY (Prefiled)
January 8, 2025
Introduced by M. of A. PAULIN, HEVESI, CUNNINGHAM -- read once and referred to the Committee on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to the creation of a school-based teen dating violence prevention program
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Section 305 of the education law is amended by adding a new subdivision 63 to read as follows:
63. School-based teen dating violence prevention program. a. The commissioner shall consult and collaborate with the commissioner of health, the office for the prevention of domestic violence and organizations that promote teen dating violence awareness, prevention and education, as well as other interested parties, to establish and develop a school-based teen dating violence prevention program within the department. Such program shall be defined by the commissioner in regulations after consultation with the department of health and the office for the prevention of domestic violence and be designed to educate students, parents and school personnel about healthy relationship behaviors, teen dating violence awareness and prevention. The teen dating violence awareness prevention program shall include but not be limited to:
(i) age-appropriate model curriculum, exemplar lesson plans and best practice instructional resources for students, parents and school personnel developed or approved to promote awareness of healthy relationship behaviors and teen dating violence prevention. Such model curriculum, lesson plans and instructional resources shall include but not be limited to information on healthy relationship behaviors and teen dating violence, recognizing the warning signs of teen dating violence, and a discussion of local community resources that are available to teens in an abusive relationship;
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02038-01-5
(ii) instructional tools and materials for students, parents and school personnel developed or approved in collaboration with the commissioner of health and the office for the prevention of domestic violence, which shall include updated data and information on healthy relationship behaviors and teen dating violence awareness and prevention, with a review of such data and information to occur periodically, at intervals deemed appropriate by the commissioner, the commissioner of health and the office for prevention of domestic violence; and
(iii) public availability of all materials related to the teen dating violence awareness prevention program on a dedicated webpage on the department's internet website, and all materials shall be provided at no cost to every school district, board of cooperative educational services, charter school and nonpublic school upon request.
b. The commissioner shall issue a guidance memorandum to every school district, board of cooperative educational services, charter school and nonpublic school, to inform them of the availability of the teen dating violence awareness prevention program and to encourage them to work and collaborate with local organizations that promote teen dating violence awareness, prevention and education and to develop policies and procedures on responding to incidents of teen dating violence and healthy relationship initiatives. The commissioner shall annually remind school districts, boards of cooperative educational services, charter schools and nonpublic schools, of the availability of teen dating violence awareness and prevention materials as part of teen dating violence awareness and prevention month.
§ 2. This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding the date on which 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.