NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A6286
SPONSOR: Peoples-Stokes TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the education law, in relation to requiring teachers
employed by the Buffalo school district to reside within Buffalo city
limits
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
An Act to amend the education law, in relation to requiring teachers
employed by the buffalo school district to reside within Buffalo city
limits.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Amends education law by adding a new section, 3036, which would require
all applicants for a teaching position in the Buffalo Public School
System to reside within Buffalo city limits.
JUSTIFICATION:
Requiring teachers of the Buffalo Public Schools to reside in Buffalo
would bring many benefits to the district and city. For example, proper-
ty tax base would rise. Also, there is a great benefit to go back to
community-based schooling; where not just the students live in the
community, but the teachers as well. Teachers living within the district
would gain a better understanding and sensitivity to the racial and
socio-economic issues facing the children that they teach.
The Buffalo Public School District had a teacher residency law for
almost ten years prior to March 23, 2011, due to a lawsuit regarding the
fact that it was not hiring enough African American teachers. Passing
this law in 1992 and 1993 was a battle hard won by the community to try
to promote more diverse hiring for the district, and this bill would
bring back this measure.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
A8152 of 2011/2012
A3827 of 2013/2014
A3288 of 2015/2016
A2182 of 2017/2018
A7020 of 2019/2020
A4521 of 2021/2022
A2846 of 2023/2024
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6286
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
March 3, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. PEOPLES-STOKES -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to requiring teachers
employed by the Buffalo school district to reside within Buffalo city
limits
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new section 3039
2 to read as follows:
3 § 3039. Residency of teachers employed by the Buffalo school district.
4 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, residency within the city
5 limits of Buffalo shall be a prerequisite for appointment to any teach-
6 ing position in the Buffalo school district.
7 2. The Buffalo school district shall require all applicants for a
8 teaching position to provide one form of proof of residency. Such form,
9 to be determined by the school district, may include, but is not limited
10 to, a driver's license, a department of motor vehicles non-driver iden-
11 tification card or other current and valid photo identification, a
12 current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck or
13 other government document that shows the name and address of the appli-
14 cant.
15 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01789-01-5
