BILL NUMBER:  S1291

 TITLE OF BILL :
An act to amend the education law, in relation to notification of
discharge from attendance upon instruction


 PURPOSE :
The purpose of this legislation is to collect more detailed data for
an accurate picture of student discharges.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :
Section 3211(4) is amended to require principals to give additional
information to the city or district school authorities of the
discharge or transfer of students.  The information will contain a
clear breakdown of all discharges and dropouts for students age 21 and
under, the reasons they left the public school system, a demographic
and racial breakdown, the number enrolled in GED programs, the number
of ELL students and special education students that were discharged,
and what support or services were offered before discharge.

A new subdivision 5 is added to require that all school districts
submit this data to the State Education Department. The State
Education Department will provide a report to the legislature by
November 30 of each year that compiles the information submitted.

              

 EXISTING LAW :
Section 3211(4) requires principals of a school to give prompt
notification in writing to city or district school authorities of the
discharge or transfer of any minor from attendance upon instruction,
stating the date of discharge, its cause, the name of the minor,
his/her date of birth, his/her place of residence prior to and
following discharge and the name of the parent or guardian.

 JUSTIFICATION :
Recent studies have shown that an alarming number of students are
leaving schools without graduating. A study done by Betsy Gotbaum,
Public Advocate for the City of New York and the Advocates for
Children of New York shows that in the school year 2000-2001, 55,000
students were discharged as compared to 14,549 students who dropped
out. Adult literacy programs have reported an increase of 30%-40% in I
6 and 17 year old students applying for GEDs. A study conducted in
2001 for the New York State Education Finance Resource Consortium
found that in order to keep performance levels up, principals across
the state were employing a variety of strategies to "push" at-risk or
low performing students out of school and into GED programs.

A combination of factors may explain this, including: budget cuts,
more stringent graduation standards; the No Child Left Behind Act, and
merit pay for principals with successful schools. The New York State
Regents have raised the bar for high school graduation and the No
Child Left Behind Act has raised the stakes considerably higher,
putting more pressure on superintendents and principals to meet higher
standards.  Schools that do not meet the higher standards are
considered low performing schools and are at risk of being taken over
and reorganized.

We want all students to be able to attain the standards the New York
State Regents have set and the No Child Left Behind Act has required.
At-risk students and low performing students need to be provided with
the support and services necessary for them to accomplish these goals.
The alarming number of students being discharged makes it clear that
additional data needs to be gathered in order to develop programs and
solutions so that all of our children are given every opportunity to
graduate from high school.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :
2007-2008:  S.4762  Died in Committee
2005-2006:  S.1798 Died in Committee
2003-2004:  S.4222 Died in Committee

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :
Minimal.

 EFFECTIVE. DATE :
This act shall take effect immediately.