NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A10002
SPONSOR: Rules (Peoples-Stoke TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the education law, in relation to
authorizing the Buffalo school district to require minors five years of
age to attend kindergarten
PURPOSE:
To permit the Buffalo School District to require kindergarten attend-
ance.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
This bill amends Education Law to allow the Buffalo School District to
require attendance in kindergarten.
JUSTIFICATION:
The Buffalo Public Schools currently provide children a full day kinder-
garten program in keeping with the numerous studies documenting the
educational benefit and related long-term success of early quality
education. Unfortunately, too many kindergarten children are absent from
school during the year, leaving them without the benefit of this educa-
tional experience.
The Buffalo Board of Education recently approved a motion to support
State Legislative action to allow the District to make Kindergarten
mandatory.
This measure is designed to address the kindergarten attendance issue in
the Buffalo School District requiring five-year-old children to benefit
from the District's kindergarten initiative for long-term academic
success.
A similar provision in Education Law was adopted for the Syracuse City
School District over 25 years ago and recently for the Rochester and New
York City School Districts.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
None.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
10002
IN ASSEMBLY
June 6, 2014
___________
Introduced by COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Peoples-
Stokes) -- read once and referred to the Committee on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to authorizing the
Buffalo school district to require minors five years of age to attend
kindergarten
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraph c of subdivision 2 of section 3205 of the educa-
2 tion law, as separately amended by chapters 157 and 167 of the laws of
3 2012, is amended to read as follows:
4 c. The board of education of the Syracuse city school district and the
5 board of education of the city school district of the city of New York
6 and the board of education of the city school district of the city of
7 Rochester and the board of education of the city school district of the
8 city of Buffalo are hereby authorized to require minors who are five
9 years of age on or before December first to attend kindergarten instruc-
10 tion. However, the provisions of this paragraph shall not apply to:
11 (i) Minors whose parents elect not to enroll their children in school
12 until the following September.
13 (ii) Students enrolled in non-public schools or in home instruction.
14 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15160-01-4
