NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A5785
SPONSOR: Paulin (MS) TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the education law, in relation to full
day kindergarten
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL: To require school districts to offer
full-day kindergarten.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS: Sections one through three amend
sections 1712, 2514 and 2555 of the education law to provide that each
school district shall maintain kindergartens and that beginning in the
201546 school year, all kindergartens shall be operated on a full-time
basis.
Section four amends subdivision 9 of section 3602 of the education law,
pertaining to aid for conversion to full day kindergarten, to provide
that commencing with the 2015-16 school year, all school districts shall
make full-day kindergarten programs available to all children.
Section five provides the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION: New York has long recognized the importance of early
education, and the need for all children to have access to kindergarten
instruction. All of New York State's nearly 700 school districts offer
kindergarten programs, though about 20 are half-day only. Kindergarten
is now mandatory in New York City, Rochester and Syracuse.
Unfortunately, school districts facing budget cuts have threatened to
eliminate kindergarten completely or reduce instruction to half-day
only. Amending the law to require districts to offer full-day kindergar-
ten is the only way to guarantee that kindergarten is protected. We must
ensure that each and every child in New York will have the important
benefits of full-day kindergarten.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: This is a new bill
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: To be determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE: The first of July next succeeding the date on which
the bill shall have become a law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5785
2013-2014 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
March 6, 2013
___________
Introduced by M. of A. PAULIN, JAFFEE, PRETLOW, ZEBROWSKI, RAMOS, STECK,
ROBERTS, CLARK, ESPINAL, GIBSON, HEVESI, RIVERA, SCARBOROUGH, SEPULVE-
DA, STEVENSON, COOK, KELLNER -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A.
BOYLAND, FARRELL, GABRYSZAK, GOTTFRIED, HEASTIE, MILLMAN -- read once
and referred to the Committee on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to full day kindergarten
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 1712 of the education law is
2 amended to read as follows:
3 1. The board of education of each school district [may] shall maintain
4 kindergartens which shall be free to resident children between the ages
5 of four and six years, provided, however, such board may fix a higher
6 minimum age for admission to such kindergartens. In the two thousand
7 fifteen--two thousand sixteen school year and thereafter, all such
8 kindergartens shall be operated on a full-time basis.
9 § 2. Subdivision 1 of section 2514 of the education law, as added by
10 chapter 762 of the laws of 1950, is amended to read as follows:
11 1. The board of education of each city school district [may] shall
12 maintain kindergartens which shall be free to resident children between
13 the ages of four and six years, provided, however, such board may fix a
14 higher minimum age for admission to such kindergartens. In the two
15 thousand fifteen--two thousand sixteen school year and thereafter, all
16 such kindergartens shall be operated on a full-time basis.
17 § 3. Subdivision 1 of section 2555 of the education law, such section
18 as renumbered by chapter 762 of the laws of 1950, is amended to read as
19 follows:
20 1. The board of education of each city [may] shall maintain kindergar-
21 tens which shall be free to resident children between the ages of four
22 and six years, provided, however, such board may fix a higher minimum
23 age for admission to such kindergartens. In the two thousand fifteen--
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06185-02-3
A. 5785 2
1 two thousand sixteen school year and thereafter, all such kindergartens
2 shall be operated on a full-time basis.
3 § 4. Subdivision 9 of section 3602 of the education law, as amended by
4 section 16 of part B of chapter 57 of the laws of 2007, is amended to
5 read as follows:
6 9. Aid for conversion to full day kindergarten. School districts may
7 make available full day kindergarten programs for all children wishing
8 to attend such programs, and, commencing with the two thousand fifteen-
9 -two thousand sixteen school year, shall make full-day kindergarten
10 programs available to all children. For aid payable in the two thousand
11 seven--two thousand eight school year and thereafter, school districts
12 which provided any half-day kindergarten programs or had no kindergarten
13 programs in the nineteen hundred ninety-six--ninety-seven school year
14 and in the base year shall be eligible for aid equal to the product of
15 the district's selected foundation aid calculated pursuant to subdivi-
16 sion four of this section multiplied by the positive difference result-
17 ing when the full day kindergarten enrollment of children attending
18 programs in the district in the base year is subtracted from such
19 enrollment in the current year.
20 § 5. This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding
21 the date on which it shall have become a law.
