Senate Bill S3087

2021-2022 Legislative Session

Relates to admission to the specialized high schools in the city of New York

download bill text pdf

Sponsored By

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee New York City Education Committee


  • Introduced
    • In Committee Assembly
    • In Committee Senate
    • On Floor Calendar Assembly
    • On Floor Calendar Senate
    • Passed Assembly
    • Passed Senate
  • Delivered to Governor
  • Signed By Governor

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2021-S3087 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:
Senate New York City Education
Law Section:
Education Law
Laws Affected:
Amd §2590-h, Ed L
Versions Introduced in 2019-2020 Legislative Session:
S8847

2021-S3087 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Relates to admission to the specialized high schools in the city of New York; removes the discovery program admission process.

2021-S3087 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2021-S3087 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   3087
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             January 27, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sens.  SALAZAR, BRISPORT, HOYLMAN, JACKSON, SEPULVEDA --
   read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to  be  committed  to
   the Committee on New York City 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
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

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