Relates to requiring the commissioner of education to make recommendations to the board of regents relating to the adoption of instruction in mental health in junior and senior high schools and to provide school districts with current information on drug abuse issues.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
3996
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
February 1, 2017
___________
Introduced by Sen. FUNKE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to requiring the commis-
sioner of education to make recommendations to the board of regents
relating to the adoption of instruction in mental health in junior and
senior high schools and to provide school districts with current
information on drug abuse issues
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 305 of the education law is amended by adding two
2 new subdivisions 56 and 57 to read as follows:
3 56. a. The commissioner shall make recommendations to the board of
4 regents relating to the adoption of instruction in mental health in
5 junior and senior high schools.
6 b. Prior to making the recommendations to the board of regents, the
7 commissioner shall:
8 (i) seek the recommendations of teachers, school administrators,
9 teacher educators, school psychologists, school social workers and
10 others with educational expertise in the proposed curriculum;
11 (ii) seek comment from parents, students and other interested parties;
12 (iii) consider the amount of instructional time such curriculum will
13 require and whether such time would detract from other mandated courses
14 of study;
15 (iv) consider the fiscal impact, if any, on the state and school
16 districts;
17 (v) consider the relevance of existing regulations pertaining to
18 mental health as part of the school health curriculum as it relates to
19 the current understanding of mental health as an integral part of health
20 and the relationship of mental health to the instruction of alcohol,
21 drugs and tobacco; and
22 (vi) consider any additional factors the commissioner deems relevant.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09607-01-7
S. 3996 2
1 c. No later than one hundred eighty days after the effective date of
2 this subdivision, the commissioner shall provide a recommendation to the
3 board of regents to either adopt and promulgate appropriate rules and
4 regulations implementing such curriculum or reject the implementation of
5 such curriculum. Upon receiving a recommendation from the commissioner,
6 pursuant to this subdivision, the board of regents shall vote to either
7 accept or reject the commissioner's recommendation no later than sixty
8 days after receiving such recommendation.
9 d. If the board of regents adopts such curriculum, the curriculum
10 requirement shall take effect no later than the next school year after
11 such curriculum has been adopted.
12 e. If the board of regents rejects such curriculum, the commissioner
13 shall provide a report as to the determination of the board to the
14 governor, the temporary president of the senate, the speaker of the
15 assembly and the chairs of the senate and assembly committees on educa-
16 tion providing the reasons for such rejection not later than thirty days
17 after the board of regents rejects such curriculum.
18 57. The commissioner shall on a biennial basis provide school
19 districts with educational information relating to current drug abuse
20 issues in order to ensure instruction provided pursuant to subdivision
21 three of section eight hundred four of this title is relevant and
22 current.
23 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.