STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5144
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
February 23, 2023
___________
Introduced by Sen. PARKER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on New York City Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to establishing a parent
and student training center within the City University of New York
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new section 2590-w
2 to read as follows:
3 § 2590-w. Parent training. 1. The City University of New York shall
4 operate a parent and student training center, known as the parent train-
5 ing center ("center") for the support and training of parents or persons
6 in parental relation to a student or students attending public school in
7 the city of New York. Such training shall occur in each of the five
8 boroughs. The center shall design and implement programs for parent
9 engagement within public schools in the city of New York, coordinating,
10 where appropriate, with the city school district of the city of New
11 York. The center shall:
12 (a) conduct training and support programs for parents in order to
13 increase their capacity to participate in and engage with local,
14 district, and city-wide school governance and participatory structures
15 designed to support and include parental and student input including but
16 not limited to school leadership teams, community education councils,
17 district leadership teams, parent associations, city-wide councils and
18 other existing formal governance and participatory structures designed
19 to support and include parental and student input;
20 (b) conduct outreach and recruitment to increase diversity in the
21 above listed governance and participatory structures to better reflect
22 the diverse composition of the represented community, with an emphasis
23 on providing resources and training in community districts where gradu-
24 ation and retention rates are in the lower half of the city-wide gradu-
25 ation and retention rates;
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07190-01-3
S. 5144 2
1 (c) implement programs to enhance parents' ability to support
2 students' educational success, including support for parents to help
3 them communicate with school administrators and teachers, track their
4 child's performance, and foster an environment for learning at home;
5 (d) assist parents and students in interacting with city school
6 district personnel and in developing an understanding of the function,
7 structure and operations of the city of New York department of educa-
8 tion, including providing basic information concerning special education
9 programs, gifted and talented programs, English Language Learner
10 programs, school improvement strategies, school budget, enrollment
11 procedures, and state and city structures and policies that impact
12 education, and the effect of such strategies, procedures, structures and
13 policies on the education being provided by the student's school;
14 (e) encourage student based college counseling initiatives designed to
15 increase the rate of college enrollment and train students to become
16 youth leaders, including but not limited to Student Success Centers.
17 2. Priority in designing and implementing programs shall be given to
18 schools and districts in which there is low overall academic achievement
19 by students or which have a high density of English language learning
20 students or low-income families. Schools with ineffective parent associ-
21 ations or without parent associations shall receive target support.
22 3. Upon request by the center, the city school district shall provide
23 the center with names and contact information of the officers of parent
24 associations, members of councils of presidents, members of the
25 chancellor's parent advisory council, members of community education
26 councils, members of school leadership teams, members of district lead-
27 ership teams, and members of the city-wide councils, provided this
28 information is publicly available.
29 4. The center shall be strictly non-partisan, shall not engage in
30 issues of advocacy, and shall remain neutral in all policy matters and
31 disputes.
32 5. The city of New York shall provide annual funding to the center in
33 an amount equal to that provided in an appropriation by the state, but
34 not to exceed eight hundred thousand dollars per year.
35 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.