Relates to school session days; adds general election day to the list of days when school will not be in session; allows a school district to elect to require staff attendance on a general election day or to schedule a professional development day.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9552
IN SENATE
March 24, 2026
___________
Introduced by Sen. ADDABBO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law and the election law, in relation to
school session days
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 8 of section 3604 of the education law, as
2 amended by chapter 359 of the laws of 2023, is amended to read as
3 follows:
4 8. No school shall be in session on a Saturday, the first day of the
5 second lunar month after the winter solstice in the preceding calendar
6 year known as Asian Lunar New Year, or a legal holiday, except [general
7 election day,] Washington's birthday and Lincoln's birthday, and except
8 that driver education classes may be conducted on a Saturday. A school
9 district may elect to require staff attendance on a general election day
10 or to schedule a professional development day. A deficiency not exceed-
11 ing four days during any school year caused by teachers' attendance upon
12 conferences held by superintendents of schools of city school districts
13 or other school districts employing superintendents of schools shall be
14 excused by the commissioner, notwithstanding any provision of law, rule
15 or regulation to the contrary, a school district may elect to schedule
16 such conference days in the last two weeks of August, subject to collec-
17 tive bargaining requirements pursuant to article fourteen of the civil
18 service law, and such days shall be counted towards the required one
19 hundred eighty days of session, provided however, that such scheduling
20 shall not alter the obligation of the school district to provide trans-
21 portation to students in non-public elementary and secondary schools or
22 charter schools. At least two such conference days during such school
23 year shall be dedicated to staff attendance upon conferences providing
24 staff development relating to implementation of the new high learning
25 standards and assessments, as adopted by the board of regents. Notwith-
26 standing any other provision of law, rule or regulation to the contrary,
27 school districts may elect to use one or more of such allowable confer-
28 ence days in units of not less than one hour each to provide staff
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03525-01-5
S. 9552 2
1 development activities relating to implementation of the new high learn-
2 ing standards and assessments. A district making such election may
3 provide such staff development on any day during which sessions are
4 allowed and apply such units to satisfy a deficiency in the length of
5 one or more daily sessions of instruction for pupils as specified in
6 regulations of the commissioner. The commissioner shall assure that such
7 conference days include appropriate school violence prevention and
8 intervention training, and may require that up to one such conference
9 day be dedicated for such purpose.
10 § 2. Subdivision 3 of section 4-104 of the election law, as amended by
11 chapter 694 of the laws of 1989, is amended to read as follows:
12 3. A building exempt from taxation shall be used whenever possible as
13 a polling place if it is situated in the same or a contiguous election
14 district, and may contain as many distinctly separate polling places as
15 public convenience may require. The expense, if any, incidental to its
16 use, shall be paid like the expense of other places of registration and
17 voting. If a board or body empowered to designate polling places chooses
18 a public school building for such purpose, the board or agency which
19 controls such building must make available a room or rooms in such
20 building which are suitable for registration and voting and which are as
21 close as possible to a convenient entrance to such building and must
22 make available any such room or rooms which the board or body designat-
23 ing such building determines are accessible to physically disabled
24 voters as provided in subdivision one-a of this section. Notwithstanding
25 the provisions of any general, special or local law, if a board or body
26 empowered to designate polling places chooses a publicly owned or leased
27 building[, other than a public school building,] for such purposes the
28 board or body which controls such building must make available a room or
29 rooms in such building which are suitable for registration and voting
30 and which are as close as possible to a convenient entrance to such
31 building, and must make available any such room or rooms which the board
32 or body designating such building determines are accessible to phys-
33 ically disabled voters unless, not later than thirty days after notice
34 of its designation as a polling place, the board or body controlling
35 such building, files a written request for a cancellation of such desig-
36 nation with the board or body empowered to designate polling places on
37 such form as shall be provided by the board or body making such desig-
38 nation. The board or body empowered to so designate shall, within twenty
39 days after such request is filed, determine whether the use of such
40 building as a polling place would unreasonably interfere with the usual
41 activities conducted in such building and upon such determination, may
42 cancel such designation.
43 § 3. This act shall take effect January 1, 2027.
