Requires that all special education students attending schools scheduled to be closed or to undergo a significant change be assigned to new schools prior to the implementation of the closing or change.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
911--A
Cal. No. 1265
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 9, 2023
___________
Introduced by Sens. LIU, CHU -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on New York City Education --
recommitted to the Committee on New York City Education in accordance
with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- reported favorably from said committee,
ordered to first and second report, ordered to a third reading,
amended and ordered reprinted, retaining its place in the order of
third reading
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to requiring that all
special education students attending schools scheduled to be closed or
to undergo a significant change be assigned to new schools prior to
the implementation of the closing or change
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraphs (b) and (e) of subdivision 2-a of section 2590-h
2 of the education law, as added by chapter 345 of the laws of 2009, are
3 amended to read as follows:
4 (b) Such educational impact statement shall include the following
5 information regarding the proposed school closing or significant change
6 in school utilization:
7 (i) the current and projected pupil enrollment of the affected school,
8 the prospective need for such school building, the ramifications of such
9 school closing or significant change in school utilization upon the
10 community, initial costs and savings resulting from such school closing
11 or significant change in school utilization, the potential disposability
12 of any closed school;
13 (ii) the impacts of the proposed school closing or significant change
14 in school utilization to any affected students;
15 (iii) an outline of any proposed or potential use of the school build-
16 ing for other educational programs or administrative services;
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02947-02-4
S. 911--A 2
1 (iv) the effect of such school closing or significant change in school
2 utilization on personnel needs, the costs of instruction, adminis-
3 tration, transportation, and other support services;
4 (v) the type, age, and physical condition of such school building,
5 maintenance, and energy costs, recent or planned improvements to such
6 school building, and such building's special features;
7 (vi) the ability of other schools in the affected community district
8 to accommodate pupils following the school closure or significant change
9 in school utilization, including a list of such schools with each
10 school's most recently available enrollment, utilization rate, and
11 percentage of special education pupils and the total number of special
12 education students impacted by the school closure or the change in
13 school utilization; and
14 (vii) information regarding such school's academic performance includ-
15 ing whether such school has been identified as a school under registra-
16 tion review or has been identified as a school requiring academic
17 progress, a school in need of improvement, or a school in corrective
18 action or restructuring status.
19 (e) (i) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (f) of this subdivi-
20 sion, all proposed school closings or significant changes in school
21 utilization shall be approved by the city board pursuant to section
22 twenty-five hundred ninety-g of this article and shall not take effect
23 until all the provisions of this subdivision have been satisfied and the
24 school year in which such city board approval was granted, has ended.
25 (ii) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (f) of this subdivi-
26 sion, no proposed school closing or significant change in school utili-
27 zation shall take effect until all special education pupils in the
28 affected school have been assigned to new schools within the city of New
29 York and the chancellor has verified that each new school within the
30 city of New York accepting special education students from the affected
31 school can accommodate such pupils.
32 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately; provided that the amend-
33 ments to subdivision 2-a of section 2590-h of the education law made by
34 section one of this act shall not affect the repeal of such subdivision
35 and shall be deemed repealed therewith.
