STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8847
IN SENATE
July 29, 2020
___________
Introduced by Sens. SALAZAR, JACKSON -- read twice and ordered printed,
and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to admission to the
specialized high schools in the city of New York
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Legislative findings. Since the enactment of the Hecht-Ca-
2 landra Act in 1971, the New York city school district has not been able
3 to make decisions about admissions to its specialized high schools.
4 Instead, as a result of the Hecht-Calandra Act, the city school district
5 has been required to base admission decisions to its specialized high
6 schools on only one criterion for admission - a student's performance on
7 a single standardized exam. As a result of the use of this criterion,
8 known as the specialized high school admissions test (SHSAT), the
9 student population of the specialized high schools does not reflect the
10 diversity of the City's population. Whereas the overall percentage of
11 Black and Latino students in the city's public schools is approximately
12 sixty-seven percent, Black and Latino students only represent nine
13 percent of the population of the specialized schools. This disparity
14 hurts Black and Latino students and it also harms the students who
15 attend the specialized high schools, who do not reap the intellectual,
16 emotional and social benefits from learning in a more diverse environ-
17 ment. Furthermore, the city school district is alone in its reliance on
18 a single metric to make admission decisions. Universities across the
19 country consider multiple factors when selecting their incoming student
20 body; selective institutions do not rely on the results of a single
21 exam. It is time for the city school district to follow suit and for
22 admissions to no longer be based on the procedures prescribed in the
23 Hecht-Calandra Act. This legislation will allow the city school district
24 to develop its own admissions criteria for specialized high schools, as
25 it develops admissions criteria for other schools within the district,
26 and ensure that high-performing and talented students across all five
27 boroughs have the opportunity to attend its specialized high schools.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13454-02-0
S. 8847 2
1 § 2. Paragraph (b) of subdivision 1 of section 2590-h of the education
2 law, as amended by chapter 345 of the laws of 2009, is amended to read
3 as follows:
4 (b) all specialized [senior] high schools. The [special] specialized
5 high schools shall include the [present] schools known as[:] The Bronx
6 High School of Science, Stuyvesant High School, Brooklyn Technical High
7 School, Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music [and the Arts in the
8 borough of Manhattan] & Art and Performing Arts, and such [further]
9 additional schools [which the city board may designate] as may be desig-
10 nated by the chancellor from time to time[. The special schools shall be
11 permitted to maintain a discovery program in accordance with the law in
12 effect on the date preceding the effective date of this section; admis-
13 sions to the special schools shall be conducted in accordance with the
14 law in effect on the date preceding the effective date of this section];
15 § 3. Paragraph (b) of subdivision 1 of section 2590-h of the education
16 law, as amended by chapter 720 of the laws of 1996, is amended to read
17 as follows:
18 (b) all specialized [senior] high schools. The [special] specialized
19 high schools shall include the [present] schools known as[:] The Bronx
20 High School of Science, Stuyvesant High School, Brooklyn Technical High
21 School, Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music [and the Arts in the
22 borough of Manhattan] & Art and Performing Arts, and such [further]
23 additional schools [which the city board may designate] as may be desig-
24 nated by the chancellor from time to time[. The special schools shall be
25 permitted to maintain a discovery program in accordance with the law in
26 effect on the date preceding the effective date of this section; admis-
27 sions to the special schools shall be conducted in accordance with the
28 law in effect on the date preceding the effective date of this section];
29 § 4. This act shall take effect on January 1, 2022, provided that the
30 amendments to paragraph (b) of subdivision 1 of section 2590-h of the
31 education law made by section two of this act shall be subject to the
32 expiration and reversion of such section pursuant to subdivision 12 of
33 section 17 of chapter 345 of the laws of 2009, as amended, when upon
34 such date the provisions of section three of this act shall take effect.
