The New York State Senate

                    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.