STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
3606
2011-2012 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 26, 2011
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Introduced by M. of A. P. RIVERA -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A.
ARROYO -- read once and referred to the Committee on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to requiring all public
school students to wear a school district uniform
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Legislative findings and intent. The legislature hereby
2 finds that there is a strong co-relation between school gang violence
3 proliferation, and the distinctive and casual clothing school kids wear
4 to school. This legislature sees necessary to address and combat this
5 issue, which is of great public concern, with all practical and empir-
6 ical means at its disposal, and that those means should be put into
7 practice by all competent authorities and institutions in New York
8 state.
9 A study found out that due to increased prevalence of school violence,
10 one in five public school students feels less eager to go to school
11 every day, one in seven feels less inclined to pay attention to learn-
12 ing, and one in ten stays home from school or cuts class. Moreover, one
13 of every 10 to 12 youths who stay away from school does so because of
14 fear. Meanwhile, of the 5,500 principals surveyed as attendees of the
15 National Association of Secondary School Principals' annual conference,
16 more than 70% believed that requiring students to wear uniforms to
17 school would reduce violent incidents and discipline problems.
18 More than 12 states, including California, New Jersey, Texas, Virginia
19 and Washington, have state policies that permit individual schools or
20 districts to adopt school uniform policies or dress codes. To emphasize,
21 there have been several successful programs implemented during the past
22 few years, with the Long Beach, California program being by far the most
23 widely reviewed and written about. The program that began in the fall of
24 1994 requires uniforms for 70,000 students in kindergarten through
25 eighth grades. With a 98% compliance rate, results during their first
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00414-01-1
A. 3606 2
1 years have proven the dramatic effect a successful school uniform policy
2 can have on a school system. The first year alone they saw a 43%
3 reduction in suspensions, 54% fewer fights, a 70% reduction in substance
4 abuse, over 20% fewer cases of weapons possession and robbery, and an
5 over 50% reduction in reports of battery against employees. Other school
6 systems nationwide likewise report similar changes in statistics. As
7 recently as the summer of 2002, school districts were adding school
8 uniform requirements to district mandates. The school board for the
9 Memphis City Schools in Tennessee voted in June, 2002, to require each
10 school's leadership council to establish a uniform dress code policy,
11 and more schools in the Cincinnati, Ohio area were requiring either
12 school uniforms or the adoption of standard dress codes. For this
13 reason, as more states in the country are implementing these policies
14 that are working towards fighting gang proliferation, New York state
15 should not be the exception, especially when, in the past ten years,
16 there has been a dramatic increase in the number of school students
17 recruited by gangs.
18 According to USA Today, parents spent an average of $185 per child
19 buying non-uniform clothing in 1998, compared with an average of $104
20 spent per child to purchase uniforms. Furthermore, a more recent article
21 in the Wall Street Journal lists uniform costs; the range is $25-$40 per
22 outfit.
23 This act will not only impact the social and economic status of fami-
24 lies throughout the state by providing inexpensive uniforms, but it will
25 enhance students' concentration on studying rather than on forming or
26 joining gangs. Also, it is the finding of this legislature that requir-
27 ing school students in this state to wear uniforms will diminish exclu-
28 sion of students based on what they are wearing, place stronger focus on
29 academic performance, decrease opportunity for showing gang affiliation
30 or hiding weapons, create an atmosphere of teamwork and pride in
31 personal appearance and school, promote safety (makes it easier to iden-
32 tify strangers in school), put students in a more common ground, and
33 reduce discrepancies in administering dress-codes justice.
34 § 2. Section 305 of the education law is amended by adding a new
35 subdivision 42 to read as follows:
36 42. He or she shall promulgate rules and regulations requiring school
37 districts to establish and implement a school district uniform policy
38 for all students in grades one through twelve, pursuant to section twen-
39 ty-eight hundred three of this chapter. Provided that for the city
40 school district of the city of New York, the commissioner shall estab-
41 lish by rule a requirement that every student in such district, in
42 grades one through twelve, wear a uniform specified for such city school
43 district by the commissioner.
44 § 3. The education law is amended by adding a new section 2803 to read
45 as follows:
46 § 2803. School district uniforms. 1. Except in the city school
47 district of the city of New York, the board of education or trustees of
48 every school district in the state, and each board of cooperative educa-
49 tional services shall establish a requirement that every student in
50 grades one through twelve wear the student uniform specified by such
51 board.
52 2. In the city school district of the city of New York, every student
53 in grades one through twelve shall wear the student uniform specified by
54 the commissioner for students in such district pursuant to subdivision
55 forty-two of section three hundred five of this chapter.
A. 3606 3
1 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately, provided that section
2 three of this act shall take effect on the first of September or the
3 first of January, whichever occurs first, next succeeding the one
4 hundred eightieth day after the effective date of this act.
