Provides that school districts, including the city school district of the city of New York, are entitled to an apportionment of state aid for the closure of schools due in response to the novel coronavirus.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A956
SPONSOR: Paulin
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the education law, in relation to the attendance of
minors upon full day instruction and the conditions under which
districts, including the city school district of the city of New York,
are entitled to an apportionment of state aid and the closure of schools
due in response to the novel coronavirus, COVID-19
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF THE BILL:
Provides that school districts are entitled to an apportionment of state
aid for the closure of schools in the 2020-21 school year due in
response to the novel coronavirus, even when no state of emergency has
been declared.
 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section one of the bill amends Subdivision 7 of section 3604 of the
education law, as amended by chapter 107 of the laws of 2020, to provide
that school districts are entitled to an apportionment of state aid for
the closure of schools in the 2020-21 school year due to COVID-19, even
when no state of emergency has been declared.
Section two of the bill sets the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Section 3604 of the Education Law requires that school districts be in
session for 180 days, or be at risk of losing state aid. Chapter 107 of
the laws of 2020 amended this section to provide that if a superinten-
dent chooses to close a school or schools to reduce the spread of
COVID-19, absent a formal declaration of a state or local state of emer-
gency, during the 2019-20 school year, such district will not be penal-
ized in the apportionment of state aid. COVID-19 continues to circulate
in New York and there has been a dramatic increase in cases throughout
the rest of the country. Accordingly, this provision should be extended
to the 2020-21 school year to provide superintendents the ability to
respond appropriately if a school closure is warranted, without risking
state aid.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
A.1114, 2021 and 2022, referred to education.
A.10904, 2019 and 2020, referred to education.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
956
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 11, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. PAULIN -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to the attendance of
minors upon full day instruction and the conditions under which
districts, including the city school district of the city of New York,
are entitled to an apportionment of state aid and the closure of
schools due in response to the novel coronavirus, COVID-19
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 7 of section 3604 of the education law, as
2 amended by chapter 107 of the laws of 2020, is amended to read as
3 follows:
4 7. No district shall be entitled to any portion of such school moneys
5 on such apportionment unless the report of the trustees or board of
6 education for the preceding school year shall show that the public
7 schools were actually in session in the district and taught by a quali-
8 fied teacher or by successive qualified teachers or by qualified teach-
9 ers for not less than one hundred eighty days. The moneys payable to a
10 school district pursuant to section thirty-six hundred nine-a of this
11 part in the current year shall be reduced by one one-hundred eightieth
12 of the district's total foundation aid for the base year for each day
13 less than one hundred eighty days that the schools of the district were
14 actually in session, except that the commissioner may disregard such
15 reduction in the apportionment of public money: (i) for any day or days
16 on which session had been previously scheduled but the superintendent
17 was required to close the school or schools due to a properly executed
18 declaration of a state or local state of emergency pursuant to article
19 two-B of the executive law; or (ii) for up to five days if he or she
20 finds that the schools of the district were not in session for one
21 hundred eighty days because of extraordinarily adverse weather condi-
22 tions, impairment of heating facilities, insufficiency of water supply,
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02152-01-3
A. 956 2
1 shortage of fuel, lack of electricity, natural gas leakage, unacceptable
2 levels of chemical substances, a credible threat to student safety as
3 reasonably determined by a lead school official or the destruction of a
4 school building either in whole or in part, and if, further, the commis-
5 sioner finds that such district cannot make up such days of instruction
6 by using for the secondary grades all scheduled vacation days which
7 occur prior to the first scheduled regents examination day in June, and
8 for the elementary grades all scheduled vacation days which occur prior
9 to the last scheduled regents examination day in June; or (iii) for any
10 day or days in the two thousand nineteen -- two thousand twenty school
11 year or the two thousand twenty-two--two thousand twenty-three school
12 year on which session had been previously scheduled but the chancellor
13 of the city school district of the city of New York or the superinten-
14 dent of a district closed the school or schools due to a determination
15 by the chancellor or superintendent that it was in the best interest of
16 public health or safety of the school district to close the school or
17 schools in response to the novel coronavirus, COVID-19. For the purposes
18 of this subdivision, "scheduled vacation days" shall mean days on which
19 the schools of the district are not in session and for which no prohibi-
20 tion exists in subdivision eight of this section for them to be in
21 session.
22 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.