Senate Bill S1844

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

                                 1844--A

                       2009-2010 Regular Sessions

                            I N  S E N A T E

                            February 9, 2009
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sens.  KLEIN,  OPPENHEIMER,  VALESKY  --  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  granting  small  city
  school  districts  the  authority  to  provide  cafeteria  services to
  students should such district be subject to a contingency budget

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

  Section  1. Paragraph a of subdivision 9 of section 2503 of the educa-
tion law, as amended by chapter 171 of the laws of 1996, is  amended  to
read as follows:
  a.  Shall  promote  the best interests of the schools and other activ-
ities committed to its care, and shall authorize, or in  its  discretion
conduct,  and  maintain  such  extra classroom activities, including the
operation of cafeterias or restaurant service  for  use  by  pupils  and
teachers,  as  the  board,  from  time to time, shall deem proper.  Such
cafeterias or restaurant service may be used by the community for school
related functions and activities and to furnish  meals  to  the  elderly
residents,  sixty years of age or older, of the district. [Such utiliza-
tion] UTILIZATION  OF  RESTAURANT  SERVICES  shall  be  subject  to  the
approval  of  the  board  of  education,  and  shall be subject to voter
approval unless [the cafeteria or] SUCH restaurant service was  operated
during the preceding school year and requires no tax levy. Charges shall
be  sufficient  to  meet  the  direct cost of preparing and serving such
meals, reducible by available reimbursements.
  S 2. Subdivision 5 of section 2601-a of the education law, as  amended
by  section  29 of part A of chapter 436 of the laws of 1997, is amended
to read as follows:
  5. If the qualified voters fail or refuse to vote the sum estimated to
be necessary  for  teachers'  salaries  and  other  ordinary  contingent

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD02896-02-9
              

S. 1844--A                          2

expenses,  the board shall adopt a contingency budget in accordance with
this subdivision and shall levy a tax  for  that  portion  of  such  sum
remaining  after  applying thereto the moneys received or to be received
from state, federal or other sources, in the same manner as if the budg-
et had been approved by the qualified voters; subject to the limitations
imposed in subdivision four of section two thousand twenty-three of this
[chapter] TITLE and this subdivision. The administrative component shall
not comprise a greater percentage of the contingency budget exclusive of
the capital component than the lesser of (1) the percentage the adminis-
trative  component  had  comprised in the prior year budget exclusive of
the capital component; or (2) the percentage the  administrative  compo-
nent had comprised in the last proposed defeated budget exclusive of the
capital  component. Such contingency budget shall include the sum deter-
mined by the board to be necessary for:
  (a) teachers' salaries, including the salaries of all members  of  the
teaching and supervising staff;
  (b) items of expense specifically authorized by statute to be incurred
by  the  board of education, including, but not limited to, expenditures
for transportation to and from regular school programs included as ordi-
nary contingent expenses in subdivision twelve  of  section  twenty-five
hundred  three  of  this  [chapter]  TITLE,  expenditures for textbooks,
required  services  for  non-public  school  students,   school   health
services,  special  education  services, kindergarten and nursery school
programs, and the district's share of the administrative costs and costs
of services provided by a board of cooperative educational services;
  (c) items of expense for legal obligations of the district, including,
but not limited to, contractual obligations, debt service, court  orders
or judgments, orders of administrative bodies or officers, and standards
and  requirements of the board of regents and the commissioner that have
the force and effect of law;
  (d) the purchase of library books and  other  instructional  materials
associated with a library;
  (e) items of expense necessary to maintain the educational programs of
the  district,  preserve  the  property  of  the district or protect the
health and safety of students and staff, including, but not limited  to,
support  services,  pupil personnel services, the necessary salaries for
the  necessary  number  of  non-teaching  employees,   necessary   legal
expenses,  water  and utility charges, instructional supplies for teach-
ers' use, emergency repairs, temporary  rental  of  essential  classroom
facilities,  and expenditures necessary to advise school district voters
concerning school matters; [and]
  (f) expenses incurred for interschool athletics, field trips and other
extracurricular activities; [and]
  (g) THE EXPENSES FOR CAFETERIA SERVICES; AND
  (H) any other item of expense determined by the commissioner to be  an
ordinary contingent expense in any school district.
  S  3.  This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding
the date on which it shall have become a law.