Senate Bill S6304

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

                                  6304

                            I N  S E N A T E

                            January 24, 2012
                               ___________

Introduced  by Sen. CARLUCCI -- 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  providing  mandate
  relief to local school districts

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

  Section 1.  Paragraph d of subdivision 4 of section 4402 of the educa-
tion law, as amended by chapter 646 of the laws of 1992, is  amended  to
read as follows:
  d.  Notwithstanding  any  other  provision  of  law,  such board shall
provide suitable transportation up to a distance of [fifty]  TWENTY-FIVE
miles  to  and from a nonpublic school which a child with a handicapping
condition attends OR FIFTY MILES FROM  A  NONPUBLIC  SCHOOL  FOR  SCHOOL
DISTRICTS LOCATED ENTIRELY OR PARTIALLY IN ANY COUNTY WITH LESS THAN TWO
HUNDRED  THOUSAND  POPULATION OR ANY TOWN WHICH HAS A POPULATION OF LESS
THAN ONE HUNDRED FIFTY PERSONS PER SQUARE MILE if such child has been so
identified by the local committee on special education  and  such  child
attends  such  school  for the purpose of receiving services or programs
similar to special educational programs recommended for  such  child  by
the local committee on special education.
  S 2. Subdivision 8 of section 4410 of the education law, as amended by
chapter 474 of the laws of 1996, is amended to read as follows:
  8. Transportation. The municipality in which a preschool child resides
shall,  beginning with the first day of service, provide either directly
or by contract for suitable transportation, as determined by the  board,
to and from special services or programs; provided, however, that if the
municipality  is a city with a population of one million or more persons
the municipality may delegate the authority to provide such  transporta-
tion  to  the  board; and provided further, that prior to providing such
transportation directly or contracting with another  entity  to  provide
such  transportation,  such  municipality  or  board  shall  request and
encourage the parents to transport their  children  at  public  expense,
where cost-effective, at a rate per mile or a public service fare estab-
lished  by the municipality and approved by the commissioner.  Except as

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

                                                           LBD14116-01-2

S. 6304                             2

otherwise provided in this section, the parents' inability  or  declina-
tion  to  transport  their  child  shall  in  no way [effect] AFFECT the
municipality's  or  board's  responsibility   to   provide   recommended
services.  Such  transportation  shall  be  provided once daily from the
child care location to the special service or  program  and  once  daily
from  the  special  service  or program to the child care location up to
[fifty] TWENTY-FIVE miles from the child care location, OR  FIFTY  MILES
FROM  THE  CHILD  CARE LOCATION FOR SCHOOL DISTRICTS LOCATED ENTIRELY OR
PARTIALLY IN ANY COUNTY WITH LESS THAN TWO HUNDRED  THOUSAND  POPULATION
OR  ANY  TOWN  WHICH  HAS  A  POPULATION  OF LESS THAN ONE HUNDRED FIFTY
PERSONS PER SQUARE MILE. If the  board  determines  that  a  child  must
receive  special services and programs at a location greater than [fifty
miles] THE ALLOWED DISTANCE from  the  child  care  location,  it  shall
request  approval of the commissioner. For the purposes of this subdivi-
sion, the term "child care location" shall mean  a  child's  home  or  a
place  where care for less than twenty-four hours a day is provided on a
regular basis and includes, but is not limited to, a  variety  of  child
care  services  such  as  day  care  centers,  family day care homes and
in-home care by persons other than parents. All transportation  of  such
children  shall  be  provided  pursuant  to  the procedures set forth in
section two hundred thirty-six of the family court act  using  the  date
called  for  in  the written notice of determination of the board or the
date of the written notice of  determination  of  the  board,  whichever
comes later, in lieu of the date the court order was issued.
  S 3. This act shall take effect immediately.