S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   10731
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                               July 8, 2020
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  COMMITTEE  ON  RULES  -- (at request of M. of A. Mosley,
   Barron, Blake, Epstein, Simon, Wright) -- read once  and  referred  to
   the Committee on Education
 
 AN  ACT  to  amend  the  education  law, in relation to admission to the
   specialized high schools in the city of New York
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1. Legislative findings. Since the enactment of the Hecht-Ca-
 landra Act in 1971, the New York city school district has not been  able
 to  make  decisions  about  admissions  to its specialized high schools.
 Instead, as a result of the Hecht-Calandra Act, the city school district
 has been required to base admission decisions to  its  specialized  high
 schools on only one criterion for admission - a student's performance on
 a  single  standardized  exam. As a result of the use of this criterion,
 known as the  specialized  high  school  admissions  test  (SHSAT),  the
 student  population of the specialized high schools does not reflect the
 diversity of the City's population. Whereas the  overall  percentage  of
 Black  and Latino students in the city's public schools is approximately
 sixty-seven percent, Black  and  Latino  students  only  represent  nine
 percent  of  the  population  of the specialized schools. This disparity
 hurts Black and Latino students and  it  also  harms  the  students  who
 attend  the  specialized high schools, who do not reap the intellectual,
 emotional and social benefits from learning in a more  diverse  environ-
 ment.  Furthermore, the city school district is alone in its reliance on
 a  single  metric  to  make admission decisions. Universities across the
 country consider multiple factors when selecting their incoming  student
 body;  selective  institutions  do  not  rely on the results of a single
 exam. It is time for the city school district to  follow  suit  and  for
 admissions  to  no  longer  be based on the procedures prescribed in the
 Hecht-Calandra Act. This legislation will allow the city school district
 to develop its own admissions criteria for specialized high schools,  as
 it  develops  admissions criteria for other schools within the district,
 and ensure that high-performing and talented students  across  all  five
 boroughs have the opportunity to attend its specialized high schools.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
              

                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD13454-02-0

 A. 10731                            2
 
   § 2. Paragraph (b) of subdivision 1 of section 2590-h of the education
 law,  as  amended by chapter 345 of the laws of 2009, is amended to read
 as follows:
   (b)  all  specialized [senior] high schools. The [special] SPECIALIZED
 high schools shall include the [present] schools known as[:]  The  Bronx
 High  School of Science, Stuyvesant High School, Brooklyn Technical High
 School, Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music [and the Arts in  the
 borough  of  Manhattan]  &  ART  AND PERFORMING ARTS, and such [further]
 ADDITIONAL schools [which the city board may designate] AS MAY BE DESIG-
 NATED BY THE CHANCELLOR from time to time[. The special schools shall be
 permitted to maintain a discovery program in accordance with the law  in
 effect  on the date preceding the effective date of this section; admis-
 sions to the special schools shall be conducted in accordance  with  the
 law in effect on the date preceding the effective date of this section];
   § 3. Paragraph (b) of subdivision 1 of section 2590-h of the education
 law,  as  amended by chapter 720 of the laws of 1996, is amended to read
 as follows:
   (b) all specialized [senior] high schools. The  [special]  SPECIALIZED
 high  schools  shall include the [present] schools known as[:] The Bronx
 High School of Science, Stuyvesant High School, Brooklyn Technical  High
 School,  Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music [and the Arts in the
 borough of Manhattan] & ART AND  PERFORMING  ARTS,  and  such  [further]
 ADDITIONAL schools [which the city board may designate] AS MAY BE DESIG-
 NATED BY THE CHANCELLOR from time to time[. The special schools shall be
 permitted  to maintain a discovery program in accordance with the law in
 effect on the date preceding the effective date of this section;  admis-
 sions  to  the special schools shall be conducted in accordance with the
 law in effect on the date preceding the effective date of this section];
   § 4. This act shall take effect on January 1, 2022, provided that  the
 amendments  to  paragraph  (b) of subdivision 1 of section 2590-h of the
 education law made by section two of this act shall be  subject  to  the
 expiration  and  reversion of such section pursuant to subdivision 12 of
 section 17 of chapter 345 of the laws of 2009,  as  amended,  when  upon
 such date the provisions of section three of this act shall take effect.