Senate Bill S881

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S881

SPONSOR: JACKSON
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the education law, in relation to requiring colleges and
universities in the state to adopt a policy that requires students in
programs for teaching, school administration, or counseling to have a
curriculum that promotes diversity, equity and inclusion, and is multi-
lingual for teaching immigrant-origin students

 
PURPOSE:

To require colleges and universities in the state to have education
programs for prospective teachers, administrators, and counselors, for
teaching immigrant-origin students.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1. Section 6206 of the education law is amended by adding a new
subdivision 23 to require that the CUNY Board of Trustees update course
curriculum as necessary to require senior and community colleges within
              

CUNY to include, within all education programs for teachers, administra-
tors, and counselors, the topic of local, state, and national immi-
gration policy and immigrant policy and immigrant integration and how to
best educate immigrant-origin students with different status in ways
that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, and are multilingual.

Section 2. Section 355 of the education law is amended by adding a new
subdivision 2-b to require SUNY Board of Trustees to do the same as CUNY
as described above.

Section 3. The education law is amended by adding a new section 815-a to
require trustees or governing boards of each independent nonprofit
college chartered by the Regents or incorporated by special act of the
Legislature to do the same as CUNY and SUNY as described above.

Section 4. Enacting Clause.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

It is crucial that NY prioritizes the education and socio-emotional
wellbeing of immigrant origin students. There are hundreds of thousands
of immigrant-origin students in our New York State schools, and yet
there is currently no requirement for teacher, school leader and counse-
lor candidates to take any classwork that will prepare them with the
knowledge, sills, and understanding to meet the cultural, linguistic,
and socioemotional needs of these students. Thus, many practicing educa-
tors struggle and are ill-equipped with the best practices to meet the
needs of the students in their classrooms. The proposed legislation will
address this pressing need in an area that has been too long neglected
in our teacher preparation programs the intersection of immigration and
education.

According to the American Immigration Council Fact Sheet on Immigrants
in New York which was published in 2020:



Nearly a quarter of New York residents are immigrants, while almost
one-fifth of residents are native-born U.S. citizens with at least on
immigrant parent.

In 2018, 4.4 million immigrants (born outside the US) comprised 23
percent of the population.

New York was home to 2.3 million women, 2 million men, and 206,980 chil-
dren who were immigrants.

The top countries of origin for immigrants were the Dominican Republic
(11 percent of immigrants), China (9 percent), Mexico (5 percent),
Jamaica (5 percent), and India (4 percent).

In 2018, 3.6 million people in New York (18 percent of the state's popu-
lation) were native-born Americans who had at least one immigrant
parent.

Over half a million U.S. citizens in New York live with at least one
family member who is undocumented.

725,000 undocumented immigrants comprised 15 percent of the immigrant
population and 4 percent of the total state population in 2016.

1.2 million people in New York, including 547,802 U.S. citizens, lived
with at least one undocumented family member between 2010 and 2014.

During the same period, about 1 in 12 children in the state was a U.S.
citizen living with at least one undocumented family member (351,146
children in total).

About one in four workers in New York is an immigrant, together making
up a vital part of the state's labor force in a range of industries.

2.8 million immigrant workers comprised 28 percent of the labor force in
2018.

Immigrants in New York have contributed tens of billions of dollars in
taxes in 2018.

Immigrant-led households in the state paid $35.4 billion in federal
taxes and $21.8 billion in state and local taxes.

Undocumented immigrants in New York paid an estimated $2.3 billion in
federal taxes and $1.4 billion in state and local taxes.

New York DACA recipients and DACA-eligible individuals paid an estimated
$113.4 million in state and local taxes.

Immigrants are an integral part of the New York workforce in a range of
occupants. As consumers, immigrants add well over a hundred billion
dollars to New York's economy. In 2018 New York residents in immigrant-
led households had $120.5 billion in spending power (after-tax income).

And the list goes on. The full report is available here:

https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/ immigrants-in-new-
york
New York has always been a place that welcomes immigrants, refugees, and
asylum seekers from around the world. We need to ensure that our schools
are just as welcoming to immigrant-origin students by preparing teachers
to meet their academic and social needs even better.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2024 - S. 9093 - REFERRED TO HIGHER EDUCATION

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

N/A

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediate