S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   7552
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               June 5, 2023
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen. ADDABBO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
 
 AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to establishing Diwali as
   a school holiday in certain public schools
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new section 2586-a
 to read as follows:
   §  2586-A.  DIWALI  AS A HOLIDAY FOR STUDENTS IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF
 THE CITY OF NEW YORK. THE FIFTEENTH DAY OF THE EIGHTH MONTH OF THE INDI-
 AN CALENDAR IN EACH YEAR, KNOWN AS DIWALI, IS HEREBY MADE  AND  DECLARED
 TO  BE  A  HOLIDAY  FOR  STUDENTS  IN ALL THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN THE CITY
 SCHOOL DISTRICT IN THE CITY OF  NEW  YORK  AND  STUDENTS  SHALL  NOT  BE
 REQUIRED  TO ATTEND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS ON SUCH DAY. IF SUCH DAY FALLS ON
 A SUNDAY, STUDENTS SHALL NOT BE REQUIRED TO ATTEND PUBLIC SCHOOLS ON THE
 MONDAY THEREAFTER.
   § 2. Subdivision 2-a of section 3635 of the education law, as  amended
 by chapter 424 of the laws of 2005, is amended to read as follows:
   2-a. The superintendent of each city school district, in a city having
 a  population  in  excess  of one million, shall prepare a public school
 calendar and shall notify officials of nonpublic schools to which trans-
 portation has been requested not later than the first  day  of  June  in
 each year, of the days on which the public schools will be in session in
 the following school year. Such school district which provides transpor-
 tation  to  nonpublic  schools shall provide such transportation for the
 same number of days as the public schools are open but shall not provide
 transportation services for more than one hundred eighty  days.    Offi-
 cials  of each nonpublic school to which transportation is provided by a
 city school district of a city having a  population  in  excess  of  one
 million  may  notify such district, not later than the first day of July
 of each school year, of a maximum of five days, exclusive of  Saturdays,
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD02941-10-3
              

 S. 7552                             2
 
 Sundays  or  legal holidays upon which public schools are required to be
 closed, on which the public schools are scheduled to be  closed,  except
 that  in  any year in which the first or last day of Passover and Easter
 Sunday  are separated by more than seven days, such officials may notify
 the district of a maximum of ten days, but such school district will  be
 required to provide for transportation to such nonpublic school provided
 that  such  five  or  ten  additional days, whichever is applicable, are
 limited to the following: the Tuesday, Wednesday,  Thursday  and  Friday
 after  Labor  Day,  Rosh  Hashanah, Yom Kippur, the week in which public
 schools are closed for spring recess,  December  twenty-fourth  and  the
 week  between  Christmas day and New Year's day, the Tuesday, Wednesday,
 Thursday and Friday after the observance of Washington's  birthday,  THE
 FIFTEENTH  DAY  OF THE EIGHTH MONTH OF THE INDIAN CALENDAR IN EACH YEAR,
 KNOWN AS DIWALI, and, in the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens only, Anni-
 versary Day as designated in section twenty-five hundred  eighty-six  of
 this chapter.
   § 3. This act shall take effect on July 1, 2023.