Enacts school technology planning act requiring regional or district-wide technology planning by school districts; also assigns a role for the state education department to provide technical assistance to schools, review and approve district plans and to report to the governor and the legislature on planning and funding.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
2302
2011-2012 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 18, 2011
___________
Introduced by Sen. KRUGER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to enacting the school
technology planning act
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
2 the "School Technology Planning Act".
3 § 2. Legislative findings. a. The legislature finds that:
4 i. Beginning with the 1997--1998 school year, schools became eligible
5 for federally mandated telecommunications discounts. Schools must apply
6 for these dollars and will receive discounts on a first-come first-serve
7 basis. Typically, districts best poised to access discounts and the
8 scores of public and private grants available for educational technology
9 are those which are more technologically advanced. Districts which are
10 typically less successful in accessing aid are those that need technical
11 assistance and do little or no planning.
12 ii. A good percentage of districts in New York state do not have a
13 technology plan or have a plan lacking essential components. Planning is
14 crucial to effective use of technology integration into curriculum.
15 District technology planning activities go a long way in helping
16 districts plan, implement their plans, seek funds, coordinate and
17 conduct teacher training, provide in-house technical assistance, and
18 maintain technology systems.
19 b. The legislature declares its intent to ameliorate the deficiencies
20 it has identified in subdivision a of this section through the enactment
21 of this act in furtherance of equipping our students with the most
22 up-to-date educational tools needed for them to be self-sufficient func-
23 tioning members of society by participating in the technology that is
24 revolutionizing that society.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06799-01-1
S. 2302 2
1 § 3. The education law is amended by adding a new section 755 to read
2 as follows:
3 § 755. School technology planning. 1. Regional or district-wide tech-
4 nology planning. a. Each school district, either individually or in
5 combination with one or more other districts or one or more public
6 library systems, shall submit to the department within ninety days imme-
7 diately after the effective date of this section a five-year educational
8 technology plan as described in this subdivision.
9 b. The educational technology plan shall address a district's or a
10 consortium of districts' plans for implementing the integration of
11 educational technology into classroom instruction and activities over a
12 period of five years. The plan shall include, but not be limited to, the
13 following: major goals and educational purposes for technology inte-
14 gration within the district or districts; goals for integration of
15 educational technology in various subjects/grade levels; a list of
16 priorities and directions for implementing the plan; results of
17 district-wide building and instructional needs assessments; benchmarks
18 for timelines and implementation; assessment processes for various stag-
19 es of implementation; provisions for ongoing funding; plans for pre- and
20 in-service staff development and training; plans for providing ongoing
21 technical assistance and maintenance.
22 c. The planning process should consider and the plan may address how
23 the school's technology efforts can be linked with other community tech-
24 nology networks in place or under development. Such other networks may
25 include information based labor exchange, employment, training or
26 library services, and may address the extent to which coordination and
27 information sharing is appropriate.
28 d. Annually thereafter the regional or district-wide educational tech-
29 nology plans shall be updated to reflect:
30 (i) actions taken to meet the goals reflected in the five-year plan;
31 (ii) changes to the plan as a result of revised completion timelines
32 and/or implementation schedules or new or revised goals and/or
33 directions for plan implementation;
34 (iii) financial accounting of local, state and federal expenditures
35 applied in carrying out the plan and in satisfying other departmental
36 reporting requirements applicable to the expenditure of funds for educa-
37 tional technology; and
38 (iv) any other information in satisfaction of other departmental
39 reporting requirements.
40 e. Individuals involved in the planning process shall include, among
41 others, representatives drawn from teachers and other school district
42 personnel who may use, maintain, install, or manage equipment on a regu-
43 lar basis.
44 2. Role of the department. a. The department shall support the use of
45 technology in schools by providing to school districts, upon request,
46 with priority given to those districts most in need of assistance, tech-
47 nical assistance in the planning, use and applications of educational
48 technology. Such technical assistance shall include but not be limited
49 to providing information and assistance regarding long term educational
50 technology planning and goals; methods for integrating technology into
51 curriculum and the department's learning standards; the purchase,
52 installation and maintenance of educational technology equipment; any
53 activities related to the training and staff development of teachers and
54 other instructional personnel in such equipment and technology; and
55 sharing examples of model school district educational technology plans,
S. 2302 3
1 planning guides, needs assessment surveys, and other relevant refer-
2 ences.
3 b. The department shall review regional or district-wide educational
4 technology plans to ensure that minimum components as described in this
5 section are addressed. Upon determining that such minimum components
6 are addressed, the department shall approve such plan and notify the
7 school district of such approval.
8 c. The department shall submit a report to the governor, the temporary
9 president of the senate, the speaker of the assembly, and the chair-
10 persons of the education committees of the senate and the assembly by
11 January first, two thousand twelve based on information gathered from
12 regional and district-wide educational technology plans and other data
13 available to the department. The report shall include but not be limited
14 to the following: projected costs for school districts to implement
15 educational technology plans, and for the department to assist school
16 districts; the application of local, state and federal educational tech-
17 nology aid in meeting school districts' educational technology goals and
18 needs; the department's actions and plans to assist schools in imple-
19 menting educational technology plans and goals; recommendations for
20 structuring state educational technology aid to best serve school
21 districts' educational technology goals and needs and ensure the most
22 effective and efficient use of state aid; and any other recommendations
23 the department deems relevant.
24 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
