Mandates the trustees of common school districts and the board of education of every union free school district to establish a code of ethics to be applied to the prohibition of the use of school resources for personal gain.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5949
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 25, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. FITZPATRICK, GIGLIO, TAGUE -- Multi-Sponsored by
-- M. of A. MANKTELOW -- read once and referred to the Committee on
Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to mandating the trustees
of common school districts and the board of education of every union
free school district to establish a code of ethics to be applied to
the prohibition of the use of school resources for personal gain
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 1604 of the education law is amended by adding a
2 new subdivision 45 to read as follows:
3 45. On or before July thirty-first, two thousand twenty-six, and annu-
4 ally thereafter, the governing body of each school district and each
5 board of cooperative educational services shall review and approve a
6 code of ethics that shall include standards for officers and employees
7 prohibiting the use of property or resources of the district or board
8 for personal gain. A copy of such code shall be filed with the office
9 of the state comptroller and the department within thirty days of its
10 annual approval pursuant to this subdivision, and any subsequent amend-
11 ments to such code shall be so filed within thirty days of adoption of
12 such amendment.
13 § 2. Section 1709 of the education law is amended by adding a new
14 subdivision 36 to read as follows:
15 36. On or before July thirty-first, two thousand twenty-six, and annu-
16 ally thereafter, the governing body of each school district and each
17 board of cooperative educational services shall review and approve a
18 code of ethics that shall include standards for officers and employees
19 prohibiting the use of property or resources of the district or board
20 for personal gain. A copy of such code shall be filed with the office
21 of the state comptroller and the department within thirty days of its
22 annual approval pursuant to this subdivision, and any subsequent amend-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08993-01-5
A. 5949 2
1 ments to such code shall be so filed within thirty days of adoption of
2 such amendment.
3 § 3. Paragraph a of subdivision 1 of section 2102-a of the education
4 law, as amended by chapter 388 of the laws of 2010, is amended to read
5 as follows:
6 a. Every trustee or voting member of a board of education of a school
7 district or a board of cooperative educational services, elected or
8 appointed for a term beginning on or after July first, two thousand
9 five, shall, within the first year of [his or her] their term, complete
10 a minimum of six hours of training on the financial oversight, account-
11 ability and fiduciary responsibilities of a school board member. Such
12 training shall also include examination of the school district's code of
13 ethics as established in subdivision forty-five of section sixteen
14 hundred four of this title.
15 § 4. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 3 of section 2116-a of the education
16 law, as amended by section 4 of part A-1 of chapter 58 of the laws of
17 2006, is amended to read as follows:
18 (a) The school authorities of each school district, except those
19 employing fewer than eight teachers, but including the city school
20 districts of the cities of Buffalo and Rochester, shall obtain an annual
21 audit of its records by an independent certified public accountant or an
22 independent public accountant. The report of such annual audit shall be
23 presented to the trustees or board of education by such accountant. The
24 board of education of the city school district of the city of New York,
25 districts of such city shall obtain an annual audit by the comptroller
26 of the city of New York, or by an independent certified public account-
27 ant or an independent public accountant. Such city school district audit
28 shall include, but not be limited to, transactions processed at the
29 level of the central administrative office, the district, and the indi-
30 vidual school. Such audit shall also include examination of all trans-
31 actions to ensure compliance with the school district's code of ethics
32 as established in subdivision forty-five of section sixteen hundred four
33 of this title. The community districts of such city school district
34 shall obtain an annual audit by the bureau of audit of the board of
35 education of the city school district of the city of New York or by an
36 independent certified public accountant or an independent public
37 accountant. A copy of the audit report in form prescribed by the commis-
38 sioner and certified by the accountant, or, in the city school district
39 of the city of New York or the community districts therein, by the
40 accountant, or the comptroller or bureau of audit, as the case may be,
41 shall be furnished to the commissioner on or before October fifteenth
42 following the end of the fiscal year audited, except that such report
43 shall be furnished to the commissioner on or before January first
44 following the end of the fiscal year audited for the city school
45 districts of the cities of Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Yonkers, and
46 New York and for the community school districts of the city of New York.
47 § 5. This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding
48 the date on which it shall have become a law and shall apply to the
49 following school year. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment
50 and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation
51 of this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and
52 completed on or before such effective date.
