Requires school districts to establish a medical hardship waiver policy to grant or deny permission to certain students to use established pick-up and drop-off points on established bus routes.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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4832
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 5, 2019
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Introduced by M. of A. CUSICK, McDONOUGH, OTIS -- Multi-Sponsored by --
M. of A. SIMON -- read once and referred to the Committee on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to requiring school
districts to establish a medical hardship waiver policy to grant or
deny permission to certain students to use established pick-up and
drop-off points on established bus routes
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 3635 of the education law is
2 amended by adding a new paragraph h to read as follows:
3 h. (i) The board of education or trustees of each school district and
4 the city school district of New York shall develop a medical hardship
5 waiver policy to grant or deny permission to children attending grades
6 kindergarten through eight who live within two miles from the school
7 which they legally attend and for children attending grades nine through
8 twelve who live within three miles from the school which they legally
9 attend to use already established pick-up and/or drop-off points on
10 already established bus routes.
11 (ii) The medical hardship waiver policy established pursuant to
12 subparagraph (i) of this paragraph shall include:
13 (1) a formal request procedure for a parent or guardian to request a
14 medical hardship waiver based upon a serious medical condition suffered
15 by the child, parent or guardian and the resulting hardship in trans-
16 porting the child to and/or from school;
17 (2) a requirement for submission of medical documentation, certified
18 by a physician or other duly authorized health care provider, of a diag-
19 nosis of a serious medical condition with a description of the limita-
20 tions resulting from such diagnosis and the approximate duration that
21 such limitations will be suffered by the child, parent or guardian;
22 (3) a requirement for submission of documentation of the nature of the
23 hardship including the inability of the child to safely travel to and/or
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00111-01-9
A. 4832 2
1 from school without the requested medical hardship waiver or of the
2 inability of the parent or guardian to safely transport the child to
3 and/or from school due to the parent or guardian suffering a serious
4 medical condition;
5 (4) consideration of the cost, if any, that would be incurred by a
6 school district in granting the medical hardship request for such trans-
7 portation;
8 (5) a requirement of a written acceptance or denial of the medical
9 hardship request upon a vote of the school board and that such written
10 acceptance or denial shall be provided to the requesting parent or guar-
11 dian within one hundred eighty days of the submission of the request;
12 and
13 (6) any other provisions or considerations deemed appropriate by the
14 school district.
15 (iii) Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed to require school
16 districts to create new bus stops or routes to accommodate such request.
17 (iv) Transportation for a lesser distance than two miles in the case
18 of children attending grades kindergarten through eight or three miles
19 in the case of children attending grades nine through twelve may be
20 provided through an approved medical hardship waiver pursuant to this
21 paragraph without the approval of qualified voters and without any
22 requirement to offer such transportation equally to all children in like
23 circumstances residing in the district.
24 (v) The cost of providing such transportation shall be a charge upon
25 the district and for the purposes of subdivision seven of section thir-
26 ty-six hundred two of this article, such pupils shall be considered
27 nonallowable pupils and the costs of their transportation shall not be
28 aidable.
29 § 2. Paragraph a of subdivision 1 of section 3635 of the education
30 law, as amended by section 11 of part A of chapter 97 of the laws of
31 2011, is amended to read as follows:
32 a. Sufficient transportation facilities (including the operation and
33 maintenance of motor vehicles) shall be provided by the school district
34 for all the children residing within the school district to and from the
35 school they legally attend, who are in need of such transportation
36 because of the remoteness of the school to the child or for the
37 promotion of the best interest of such children. Such transportation
38 shall be provided for all children attending grades kindergarten through
39 eight who live more than two miles from the school which they legally
40 attend or who are granted a waiver pursuant to paragraph h of this
41 subdivision and for all children attending grades nine through twelve
42 who live more than three miles from the school which they legally attend
43 or who are granted a waiver pursuant to paragraph h of this subdivision
44 and shall be provided for each such child up to a distance of fifteen
45 miles, the distances in each case being measured by the nearest avail-
46 able route from home to school. The cost of providing such transporta-
47 tion between two or three miles or pursuant to such a waiver, as the
48 case may be, and fifteen miles shall be considered for the purposes of
49 this chapter to be a charge upon the district and an ordinary contingent
50 expense of the district. Transportation for a lesser distance than two
51 miles in the case of children attending grades kindergarten through
52 eight or three miles in the case of children attending grades nine
53 through twelve and for a greater distance than fifteen miles may be
54 provided by the district with the approval of the qualified voters, and,
55 if provided, shall be offered equally to all children in like circum-
56 stances residing in the district; provided, however, that this require-
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1 ment shall not apply to transportation offered pursuant to section thir-
2 ty-six hundred thirty-five-b of this article or pursuant to paragraph h
3 of this subdivision.
4 § 3. Paragraph a of subdivision 1 of section 3635 of the education
5 law, as amended by chapter 69 of the laws of 1992, is amended to read as
6 follows:
7 a. Sufficient transportation facilities (including the operation and
8 maintenance of motor vehicles) shall be provided by the school district
9 for all the children residing within the school district to and from the
10 school they legally attend, who are in need of such transportation
11 because of the remoteness of the school to the child or for the
12 promotion of the best interest of such children. Such transportation
13 shall be provided for all children attending grades kindergarten through
14 eight who live more than two miles from the school which they legally
15 attend or who are granted a waiver pursuant to paragraph h of this
16 subdivision and for all children attending grades nine through twelve
17 who live more than three miles from the school which they legally attend
18 or who are granted a waiver pursuant to paragraph h of this subdivision
19 and shall be provided for each such child up to a distance of fifteen
20 miles, the distances in each case being measured by the nearest avail-
21 able route from home to school. The cost of providing such transporta-
22 tion between two or three miles or pursuant to such a waiver, as the
23 case may be, and fifteen miles shall be considered for the purposes of
24 this chapter to be a charge upon the district and an ordinary contingent
25 expense of the district. Transportation for a lesser distance than two
26 miles in the case of children attending grades kindergarten through
27 eight or three miles in the case of children attending grades nine
28 through twelve and for a greater distance than fifteen miles may be
29 provided by the district, and, if provided, shall be offered equally to
30 all children in like circumstances residing in the district; provided,
31 however, that this requirement shall not apply to transportation offered
32 pursuant to section thirty-six hundred thirty-five-b of this article or
33 pursuant to paragraph h of this subdivision.
34 § 4. Paragraph d of subdivision 7 of section 3602 of the education
35 law, as amended by section 22 of part C of chapter 57 of the laws of
36 2004, is amended to read as follows:
37 d. In determining approved transportation operating expense for
38 district-owned transportation and approved transportation capital, debt
39 service and lease expense pursuant to paragraphs b, c and e of this
40 subdivision and part two of this article, the commissioner shall make a
41 deduction from the total transportation expense for the transportation
42 of nonallowable pupils, and for that portion of the total annual mileage
43 of district-owned school buses that is not aidable because it is not
44 included in the total annual allowable mileage as defined in section
45 thirty-six hundred twenty-one of this article, provided that such calcu-
46 lations shall be made pursuant to regulations of the commissioner, and
47 further provided that such regulations shall provide for an exclusion of
48 pupil miles for transportation provided on a space-available basis to
49 pupils attending an approved universal prekindergarten program pursuant
50 to section thirty-six hundred two-e of this [article] part as well as
51 pupils transported under a medical hardship waiver pursuant to paragraph
52 h of subdivision one of section thirty-six hundred thirty-five of this
53 article that [does] do not result in additional transportation costs.
54 § 5. The commissioner of education may promulgate such rules and regu-
55 lations as he or she deems necessary to carry out the purposes of this
56 act.
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1 § 6. This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that
2 the amendments to paragraph a of subdivision 1 of section 3635 of the
3 education law made by section two of this act shall be subject to the
4 expiration and reversion of such paragraph pursuant to section 13 of
5 part A of chapter 97 of the laws of 2011, as amended, when upon such
6 date the provisions of section three of this act shall take effect.
