Provides that the commissioner of education may promulgate rules and regulations for a health education curriculum to include menstrual disorders, including but not limited to, endometriosis.
Requires a school library media specialist in each elementary, intermediate, middle, junior high and senior high school with one such specialist being employed full-time in schools with more than five hundred students and two such specialists being employed full-time in schools with more than two thousand students.
Allows the state and city university of New York system to offer college credits to prospective students based on such prospective student's performance on the regents examinations.
This bill (S 636) adds a sales tax exemption for school buses and their operational items, directly affecting school districts and bus operators. It removes sales tax on school buses (as defined in vehicle law), plus parts, equipment, lubricants, and fuel used to operate them. The exemption takes effect on April 1, 2026, and requires tax law updates to implement. School districts will save on these purchases starting in 2026.
This bill prohibits the sale of tobacco and vapor products within 500 feet of any public or private school property. It directly affects retailers selling these products near schools and aims to protect students by restricting access near school grounds. The law defines the 500-foot limit as a straight-line measurement from the school’s property boundary to the business’s property boundary. Violations are enforced under existing health law procedures, allowing anyone to report noncompliance to authorities.
This bill creates a new internal registry for active investigations into specific moral character complaints against New York teachers or applicants. It only includes cases involving boundary violations between teachers and students, sex-related offenses, or sexual complaints, as determined by the commissioner. School districts seeking to hire an applicant are notified if they're on the registry, but the registry's details remain confidential except to school administrators. Teachers added to the registry can appeal within 30 days, and investigations must be prioritized for completion. The bill does not change existing moral character standards but standardizes how such complaints are tracked and communicated.
Directs the department of education to issue guidance for schools to offer take-home meals in the event of a disruption in food assistance programs or other circumstances identified by the department as creating a risk of food insecurity among students.
Requires school districts to conduct mandatory early screening for dyslexia for all children commencing in pre-kindergarten or kindergarten and continuing thereafter on an annual basis until each child successfully completes second grade; requires school districts to designate an individual to maintain complete and accurate records containing early screening reports for each child, and to provide resources and materials to the parent and/or guardian of any child who displays indications of dyslexia.
This bill allows students in New York State schools to earn physical education credits by completing state-approved lifeguard certification training courses. It requires the Board of Regents to create rules enabling these courses to count toward the mandatory physical education requirements. The policy directly affects high school students who complete approved lifeguard training programs, potentially reducing the need for separate physical education classes. The change applies only to courses meeting state standards for lifeguard certification, not general physical education instruction.
This bill requires all public school districts to implement mandatory dyslexia screening for students starting in kindergarten, with annual screenings until the end of second grade. The screening must be evidence-based, low-cost, and efficient. Schools must provide small-group, multi-sensory phonics instruction as intervention services for students identified with dyslexia or related learning differences. The law takes effect immediately upon enactment.
