Bill Text: NY A00828 | 2025-2026 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Establishes the fifteenth day of the month of Kartika on the Hindu calendar in each year, known as Diwali, as a statewide school holiday.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2025-01-08 - referred to education [A00828 Detail]

Download: New_York-2025-A00828-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                           828

                               2025-2026 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                       (Prefiled)

                                     January 8, 2025
                                       ___________

        Introduced by M. of A. RAJKUMAR -- read once and referred to the Commit-
          tee on Education

        AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to establishing Diwali as
          a statewide 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  month  of
     7  Kartika  on the Hindu 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

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD01032-01-5
        A. 828                              2

     1  assessments,  as  adopted  by the board of regents.  Notwithstanding any
     2  other provision of law, rule  or  regulation  to  the  contrary,  school
     3  districts may elect to use one or more of such allowable conference days
     4  in  units  of  not  less than one hour each to provide staff development
     5  activities relating to implementation of the new high learning standards
     6  and assessments. A district making such election may provide such  staff
     7  development  on any day during which sessions are allowed and apply such
     8  units to satisfy a deficiency  in  the  length  of  one  or  more  daily
     9  sessions  of  instruction  for pupils as specified in regulations of the
    10  commissioner. The commissioner shall assure that  such  conference  days
    11  include  appropriate  school violence prevention and intervention train-
    12  ing, and may require that up to one such conference day be dedicated for
    13  such purpose.
    14    § 2. Section 2586-a of the education law, as added by chapter  629  of
    15  the laws of 2023, is amended to read as follows:
    16    § 2586-a. Diwali as a holiday in the public schools of the city of New
    17  York. The fifteenth day of the [eighth] month of [the Indian] Kartika on
    18  the  Hindu  calendar  in  each year, known as Diwali, is hereby made and
    19  declared to be a holiday in all the public schools in  the  city  school
    20  district in the city of New York and such public schools shall not be in
    21  session on such day.
    22    §  3.  Subdivision  2-a of section 3635 of the education law, as sepa-
    23  rately amended by chapters 359 and 629 of the laws of 2023,  is  amended
    24  to read as follows:
    25    2-a. The superintendent of each city school district, in a city having
    26  a  population  in  excess  of one million, shall prepare a public school
    27  calendar and shall notify officials of nonpublic schools to which trans-
    28  portation has been requested not later than the first  day  of  June  in
    29  each year, of the days on which the public schools will be in session in
    30  the following school year. Such school district which provides transpor-
    31  tation  to  nonpublic  schools shall provide such transportation for the
    32  same number of days as the public schools are open but shall not provide
    33  transportation services for more than one hundred eighty  days.    Offi-
    34  cials  of each nonpublic school to which transportation is provided by a
    35  city school district of a city having a  population  in  excess  of  one
    36  million  may  notify such district, not later than the first day of July
    37  of each school year, of a maximum of five days, exclusive of  Saturdays,
    38  Sundays  or  legal holidays upon which public schools are required to be
    39  closed, on which the public schools are scheduled to be  closed,  except
    40  that  in  any year in which the first or last day of Passover and Easter
    41  Sunday are separated by more than seven days, such officials may  notify
    42  the  district of a maximum of ten days, but such school district will be
    43  required to provide for transportation to such nonpublic school provided
    44  that such five or ten additional  days,  whichever  is  applicable,  are
    45  limited  to  the  following: the Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday
    46  after Labor Day, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, the  week  in  which  public
    47  schools  are  closed  for  spring recess, December twenty-fourth and the
    48  week between Christmas day and New Year's day, the  Tuesday,  Wednesday,
    49  Thursday  and  Friday after the observance of Washington's birthday, the
    50  first day of the second lunar month after the  winter  solstice  in  the
    51  preceding  calendar  year,  known as Asian Lunar New Year, the fifteenth
    52  day of the [eighth] month of [the Indian] Kartika on the Hindu  calendar
    53  in  each  year,  known  as  Diwali, and, in the boroughs of Brooklyn and
    54  Queens only,  Anniversary  Day  as  designated  in  section  twenty-five
    55  hundred eighty-six of this chapter.
    56    § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.