Senate Bill S8637A

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S8637

SPONSOR: KAPLAN
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the education law, in relation to prohibiting discrimi-
nation of students on school property or at a school function based on
religious attire

 
PURPOSE:

The intent of this legislation is to further protect the religious
rights of all New Yorker's, especially our youth. New York State is a
multi-cultural state made up of many religious denominations and we must
make every effort to pursue equal representation.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1. Section 11 of the education law is amended by adding a new
subdivision 11 to read; Religious attire shall mean any attire, cloth-
ing, or hairstyle or facial hairstyle worn in accordance with the
requirements of an individual's religion.
              

Section 2. Subdivision 1 of section 12 of the education law, as amended
by chapter 102 of the laws of 2012. No student shall be subjected to
harassment or bullying by employees or students on school property or at
a school function, nor shall any student be subjected to discrimination
based on a person's actual or perceived race, color, weight, national
origin, ethnic group, religion, religious practice, religious attire,
disability, sexual orientation, gender, or sex by school employees or
students on school property or at a school function. Nothing in this
subdivision shall be construed to prohibit a denial of admission into,
or exclusion from, a course of instruction based on a person's gender
that would be permissible under section thirty-two hundred one-a or
paragraph (a) of subdivision two of section twenty-eight hundred fifty-
four of this chapter and title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972,
or to prohibit, as discrimination based on disability, action that would
be permissible under section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973

Section 3. This act shall take effect immediately.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

This legislation is inspired by the recent story about Noor Alexandria
Abukaram who ran a personal-best time in a cross-country meet The
16-year-old Ohio high school student found out her race didn't count
after its completion. Abukaram was disqualified from her team's meet for
wearing a hijab while in the competition.  Current, NYS statute already
prohibits discrimination of students based on "religion" or "religious
practice" on school property or at school functions in section 12 of the
Education Law, which would include sporting events (the definition of
"school function" is in section 11). While religious attire would likely
be considered a religious practice, it needs to be added to current
statute to prevent any student in NYS from facing the type of discrimi-
nation faced by the Ohio student Noor Alexandria Abukaram. Why should
any student of any religious denomination have to sacrifice their reli-
gion and a part of who they are to do another thing that their very
passionate about

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

A. 8777 of 2019/2020 referred Committee to Assembly Education

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.