NY State Senate Bill 2015-S6720A

Senate Bill S6720A

2015-2016 Legislative Session

Authorizes the Cohoes and Watervliet city school districts to require minors five years of age to attend kindergarten

download bill text pdf

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Education Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
May 19, 2016	print number 6720a
May 19, 2016	amend (t) and recommit to education
Feb 09, 2016	referred to education

Bill Amendments

Original

A (Active)

2015-S6720 - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A9149
Current Committee:: Senate Education
Law Section:: Education Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §3205, Ed L
Versions Introduced in 2017-2018 Legislative Session:: S2274, A1377

2015-S6720 - Summary

Authorizes the Cohoes and Watervliet city school districts to require minors five years of age to attend kindergarten.

2015-S6720 - Sponsor Memo

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S6720

 TITLE OF BILL :  An act to amend the education law, in relation to
authorizing the Cohoes city school district to require minors five
years of age to attend kindergarten

 PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL :

Authorizes the Cohoes city school district to require minors five
years of age to attend kindergarten

 SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS :

Section 1 gives authorization to the Cohoes city school district to
make kindergarten compulsory for all five-year-olds, except for those
children whose parents choose not to enroll them until the following
September.

Section 2 sets forth the effective date.

 JUSTIFICATION :

Kindergarten is one of the many components of early intervention that
our education system uses to get students on the right track and
prepared for the rest of their education. The City of Cohoes School
District provides a full day kindergarten program to help children

receive the educational benefits and longer term successes that early
education provides.

Unfortunately, many children of kindergarten age are absent from
school because their attendance is not required. The Cohoes School
Board passed a resolution emphasizing the need for quality early
education and the positive impact required kindergarten attendance
would have on the children in the community.

This measure is designed to address the kindergarten attendance issue
in the Cohoes City School District requiring five-year-old children to
benefit from the District's kindergarten initiative for long-term
academic success. Currently, the school district has an average
absentee rate for kindergarten students of 26% between its three
elementary schools.

A similar provision in Education Law was adopted for the Syracuse City
School District over 25 years ago and recently for the Rochester, New
York City, Buffalo, and Utica School Districts.

 PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

None.

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

None.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect immediately.

2015-S6720 - Bill Text download pdf

                            
                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                  6720

                            I N  S E N A T E

                            February 9, 2016
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sen. BRESLIN -- 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 authorizing the Cohoes
  city school district to require minors five years  of  age  to  attend
  kindergarten

  THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section 1. Paragraph c of subdivision 2 of section 3205 of the  educa-
tion  law,  as amended by chapter 118 of the laws of 2015, is amended to
read as follows:
  c. The board of education of the Syracuse city  school  district,  the
board  of education of the city school district of the city of New York,
the board of education of the  city  school  district  of  the  city  of
Rochester,  the  board  of  education of the city school district of the
city of Utica, the board of education of the city school district of the
city of Buffalo, THE BOARD  OF  EDUCATION  OF  THE  COHOES  CITY  SCHOOL
DISTRICT  and  the board of education of the city school district of the
city of Yonkers are hereby authorized to require  minors  who  are  five
years of age on or before December first to attend kindergarten instruc-
tion. However, the provisions of this paragraph shall not apply to:
  (i)  Minors whose parents elect not to enroll their children in school
until the following September.
  (ii) Students enrolled in non-public schools or in home instruction.
  S 2. This act shall take effect immediately.




 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD13805-01-6

2015-S6720A (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A9149
Current Committee:: Senate Education
Law Section:: Education Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §3205, Ed L
Versions Introduced in 2017-2018 Legislative Session:: S2274, A1377

2015-S6720A (ACTIVE) - Summary

Authorizes the Cohoes and Watervliet city school districts to require minors five years of age to attend kindergarten.

2015-S6720A (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S6720A

 TITLE OF BILL :

An act to amend the education law, in relation to authorizing the city
school districts of Cohoes and Watervliet to require minors five years
of age to attend kindergarten

 PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL :

Authorizes the Cohoes and Watervliet city school districts to require
minors five years of age to attend kindergarten

 SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS :

Section 1 gives authorization to the Cohoes city school district and
Watervliet city school district to make kindergarten compulsory for
all five-year-olds, except for those children whose parents choose not
to enroll them until the following September.

Section 2 sets forth the effective date.

 JUSTIFICATION :

Kindergarten is one of the many components of early intervention that
our education system uses to get students on the right track and

prepared for the rest of their education. The City of Cohoes School
District and the City of Watervliet School District provide full day
kindergarten programs to help children receive the educational
benefits and longer term successes that early education provides.

Unfortunately, many children of kindergarten age are absent from
school because their attendance is not required. The Cohoes and
Watervliet School Boards passed resolutions emphasizing the need for
quality early education and the positive impact required kindergarten
attendance would have on the children in the community. This measure
is designed to address the kindergarten attendance issue in the Cohoes
City School District requiring five-year-old children to benefit from
the District's kindergarten initiative for long-term academic success.
Currently, Cohoes has an average absentee rate for kindergarten
students of 26% between its three elementary schools.  Although not as
severe, Watervliet is facing a 5% absentee rate which is still
impacting its students.

A similar provision in Education Law was adopted for the Syracuse City
School District over 25 years ago and recently for the Rochester, New
York City, Buffalo, and Utica School Districts.

 PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

None.

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

None.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect immediately.

2015-S6720A (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                 6720--A

                            I N  S E N A T E

                            February 9, 2016
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sen. BRESLIN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
  printed to be committed to the Committee  on  Education  --  committee
  discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
  to said committee

AN  ACT  to amend the education law, in relation to authorizing the city
  school districts of Cohoes and Watervliet to require minors five years
  of age to attend kindergarten

  THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section  1. Paragraph c of subdivision 2 of section 3205 of the educa-
tion law, as amended by chapter 118 of the laws of 2015, is  amended  to
read as follows:
  c.  The  board  of education of the Syracuse city school district, the
board of education of the city school district of the city of New  York,
the  board  of  education  of  the  city  school district of the city of
Rochester, the board of education of the city  school  district  of  the
city of Utica, the board of education of the city school district of the
city  of  Buffalo  THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF THE CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT OF
THE CITY OF COHOES, THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF THE CITY  SCHOOL  DISTRICT
OF THE CITY OF WATERVLIET, and the board of education of the city school
district  of the city of Yonkers are hereby authorized to require minors
who are five years of age on or before December first to attend  kinder-
garten  instruction. However, the provisions of this paragraph shall not
apply to:
  (i) Minors whose parents elect not to enroll their children in  school
until the following September.
  (ii) Students enrolled in non-public schools or in home instruction.
  S 2. This act shall take effect immediately.



 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD13805-03-6

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