S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
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                                   44

                       2009-2010 Regular Sessions

                            I N  S E N A T E

                               (PREFILED)

                             January 7, 2009
                               ___________

Introduced by Sen. FUSCHILLO -- 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 permitting boards of
  education to grant parents or guardians, physically limited by a disa-
  bility, the ability to obtain bus services for their children

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

  Section  1. Paragraph a of subdivision 1 of section 3635 of the educa-
tion law, as amended by chapter 69 of the laws of 1992,  is  amended  to
read as follows:
  a.  (I)  Sufficient transportation facilities (including the operation
and maintenance of motor vehicles)  shall  be  provided  by  the  school
district for all the children residing within the school district to and
from the school they legally attend, who are in need of such transporta-
tion  because  of  the  remoteness of the school to the child or for the
promotion of the best interest of such children.    Such  transportation
shall be provided for all children attending grades kindergarten through
eight  who  live  more than two miles from the school which they legally
attend and for all children attending grades  nine  through  twelve  who
live more than three miles from the school which they legally attend and
shall be provided for each such child up to a distance of fifteen miles,
the distances in each case being measured by the nearest available route
from  home  to school. The cost of providing such transportation between
two or three miles, as the case may  be,  and  fifteen  miles  shall  be
considered  for  the  purposes  of  this chapter to be a charge upon the
district and an ordinary contingent expense of the district. Transporta-
tion for a lesser distance than  two  miles  in  the  case  of  children
attending  grades  kindergarten through eight or three miles in the case
of children attending grades nine  through  twelve  and  for  a  greater
distance  than  fifteen  miles  may be provided by the district, and, if

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

                                                           LBD00951-01-9

S. 44                               2

provided, shall be offered equally to all children in like circumstances
residing in the district AND MAY, UPON A RESOLUTION ADOPTED BY THE BOARD
OF EDUCATION AND FOR A PERIOD OF TIME AS APPROVED BY THE BOARD OF EDUCA-
TION,  BE  PROVIDED  FOR  SUCH  LESSER DISTANCES BASED UPON SUCH BOARD'S
DETERMINATION THAT THE PARENT OR GUARDIAN OF A CHILD  HAS  A  PHYSICALLY
LIMITING  DISABILITY  WHICH  RENDERS  HIM OR HER UNABLE TO ACCOMPANY THE
CHILD TO OR FROM SCHOOL; provided, however, that this requirement  shall
not  apply  to  transportation  offered  pursuant  to section thirty-six
hundred thirty-five-b of this article.
  (II) PROOF OF A PHYSICALLY LIMITING DISABILITY WHICH RENDERS A  PARENT
OR  GUARDIAN  OF A CHILD UNABLE TO ACCOMPANY THE CHILD TO OR FROM SCHOOL
SHALL BE CERTIFIED BY A DOCTOR IN A FORM TO BE PRESCRIBED BY THE DEPART-
MENT.
  S 2. This act shall take effect on the first of July  next  succeeding
the date on which it shall have become a law.