Bill Text: NY A04294 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Relates to school session days; adds general election day to the list of days when school will not be in session; allows a school district to elect to require staff attendance on a general election day or to schedule a professional development day.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 25-1)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - referred to education [A04294 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-A04294-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 4294 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY February 14, 2023 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. STIRPE, GUNTHER, HUNTER, HYNDMAN, MAGNARELLI, RIVERA, SIMON, TAYLOR, ZEBROWSKI, SAYEGH, FAHY, REYES, PHEFFER AMATO, D. ROSENTHAL, BRONSON, FRIEND, L. ROSENTHAL, WOERNER, COOK, DICKENS, STECK, WALLACE -- read once and referred to the Committee on Education AN ACT to amend the education law and the election law, in relation to school session days 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 605 of the laws of 2019, is amended to read as 3 follows: 4 8. No school shall be in session on a Saturday, general election day 5 or a legal holiday, except [general election day,] Washington's birthday 6 and Lincoln's birthday, and except that driver education classes may be 7 conducted on a Saturday. A school district may elect to require staff 8 attendance on a general election day or to schedule a professional 9 development day. A deficiency not exceeding four days during any school 10 year caused by teachers' attendance upon conferences held by superinten- 11 dents of schools of city school districts or other school districts 12 employing superintendents of schools shall be excused by the commission- 13 er, notwithstanding any provision of law, rule or regulation to the 14 contrary, a school district may elect to schedule such conference days 15 in the last two weeks of August, subject to collective bargaining 16 requirements pursuant to article fourteen of the civil service law, and 17 such days shall be counted towards the required one hundred eighty days 18 of session, provided however, that such scheduling shall not alter the 19 obligation of the school district to provide transportation to students 20 in non-public elementary and secondary schools or charter schools. At 21 least two such conference days during such school year shall be dedi- 22 cated to staff attendance upon conferences providing staff development 23 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. LBD01758-01-3A. 4294 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. Subdivision 3 of section 4-104 of the election law, as amended by 15 chapter 694 of the laws of 1989, is amended to read as follows: 16 3. A building exempt from taxation shall be used whenever possible as 17 a polling place if it is situated in the same or a contiguous election 18 district, and may contain as many distinctly separate polling places as 19 public convenience may require. The expense, if any, incidental to its 20 use, shall be paid like the expense of other places of registration and 21 voting. If a board or body empowered to designate polling places chooses 22 a public school building for such purpose, the board or agency which 23 controls such building must make available a room or rooms in such 24 building which are suitable for registration and voting and which are as 25 close as possible to a convenient entrance to such building and must 26 make available any such room or rooms which the board or body designat- 27 ing such building determines are accessible to physically disabled 28 voters as provided in subdivision one-a of this section. Notwithstanding 29 the provisions of any general, special or local law, if a board or body 30 empowered to designate polling places chooses a publicly owned or leased 31 building[, other than a public school building,] for such purposes the 32 board or body which controls such building must make available a room or 33 rooms in such building which are suitable for registration and voting 34 and which are as close as possible to a convenient entrance to such 35 building, and must make available any such room or rooms which the board 36 or body designating such building determines are accessible to phys- 37 ically disabled voters unless, not later than thirty days after notice 38 of its designation as a polling place, the board or body controlling 39 such building, files a written request for a cancellation of such desig- 40 nation with the board or body empowered to designate polling places on 41 such form as shall be provided by the board or body making such desig- 42 nation. The board or body empowered to so designate shall, within twenty 43 days after such request is filed, determine whether the use of such 44 building as a polling place would unreasonably interfere with the usual 45 activities conducted in such building and upon such determination, may 46 cancel such designation. 47 § 3. This act shall take effect January 1, 2025.
