Provides aid for blind or deaf students in relation to the purchase and use of supports for the education of students who are blind, deaf, deaf-blind or hard of hearing.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A6515A
SPONSOR: Nolan TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the education law, in relation to
providing aid for blind or deaf students in relation to the purchase and
use of supports for the education of students who are blind, deaf, deaf-
blind, or hard of hearing
PURPOSE OF THE BILL:
The bill enhances the ability of the State Education Department (SED) to
provide financial assistance for the purchase and use of supports to
read, including the employment of persons to read to such student and/or
the purchase of technology to assist the student in reading for students
who are blind, deaf, deaf-blind or hard of hearing.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 of the bill increases the amount of readers' aid a student may
be eligible for, from $1,000 to $4,000, and authorizes the use of funds
for the purchase of assistive technology, subject to any terms and
conditions prescribed by the commissioner in regulations and within the
limits of the appropriation therefor. Funds appropriated in 2017-2018
academic year and thereafter for the purposes of this initiative shall
be allocated on a first-come, first serve basis based on the order of
applications received by the commissioner, in a timeframe and manner
prescribed by the commissioner in regulations.
The bill also provides that any funds allocated pursuant to this section
shall supplement not supplant any aid provided and/or devices currently
used by the college, university, technical or professional school,
including agriculture and technical institutes and state institutes of
applied arts and sciences or licensed private career schools as defined
in article one hundred one of Education Law.
Section 2 of the bill is the effective date.
STATEMENT IN SUPPORT OF THE BILL:
The Readers Aid Program provides funding assistance for college students
who are deaf, deaf-blind or blind by helping to meet the costs of note-
taker, reader and/or interpreter services. The funding, administered
through a public or private college or university disabled students
service office, is normally divided between semesters. Under current
law, eligible students may only receive $1,000 per academic year for
limited purposes; however, many of today's students need assistive
devices and/or other supports to be able to read, which may cost more
than $1,000. This bill increases the amount a student may receive to
$4,000 and authorizes the purchase of assistive technology that would be
owned by the student in order to better facilitate their continued
education. It also expands the types of students eligible for aid to
include learning disabled and print disabled and the types of insti-
tutions where a student may attend to include licensed private career
schools. Since the current appropriation is not being fully used, the
Department believes that expanding the amount a student may receive and
the types of supportive services to be covered by the aid will help
provide the most assistance within the current appropriation level.
BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS OF THE BILL:
No additional costs would be associated with this legislation because it
is subject to an appropriation.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
in 2017, this bill was introduced by the Senate as 5.4831 and was also
introduced by the Assembly as A.6515.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This bill shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become a law.
