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.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A6040B
SPONSOR: Stirpe
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the education law and the election law, in relation to
school session days
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To provide that no school shall be in session on general election day,
however a school district can require staff attendance or a professional
development day. This bill also allows school's to ability to appeal
their designation as a polling place.
 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section one - amends subdivision 8 of section 3604 of the education law,
as amended by chapter 260 of the laws of 2012 to add general election
day to the list of no school session days
Section two - amends subdivision 3 of section 4-1-3 of the election law,
as amended by chapter 694 of the laws of 1989, to afford public school
building the opportunity to appeal their designation as a polling place.
Section three - sets forth the effective date as January 1, 2017.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
In recent years, school safety has become an issue of discussion across
the country, with schools in New York putting in a number of safety and
security measures to protect students. Many schools are locked to the
outside while school is in session so no one can enter without signing
in and giving ID. While this is a basic security measure and many
schools have even more in place, on general election day in New York,
schools are one of the primary locations for voting. The city of New
York already makes General Election Day a non-student attendance day, so
this bill would expand to cover the entire state. This will not only
address the concerns of student safety, but also alleviates the competi-
tion for space in the often crowded educational facilities. The Board of
Elections sometimes has a difficult time finding appropriate spaces that
would be fully accessible to all voters, so by closing schools to
students it will open up more options.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New legislation
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
January 1, 2017