Enacts the "Gold Star Families Support Act"; provides a member of a Gold Star family with state paid health insurance; removes provisions relating to veterans with disabilities; expands employment of veterans to employment of veterans and members of a Gold Star family; establishes the Gold Star family tuition fund to be distributed to any public or private educational institution from grades pre-K through graduate and post-graduate school shall be deposited with any school providing free tuition to a member of a Gold Star family; makes related provisions.
Requires school bus drivers and attendants who ride with children attending preschool special education programs to complete training in the needs of such children.
Directs the department of social services to establish an outdoor, nature-based child care pilot project to explore establishing licensing guidelines for the operation of outdoor, nature-based child care programs in an outdoor space and that employ a nature-based early learning curriculum to teach enrolled children.
Prohibits the aerial and ground application of malathion and certain pyrethroid-based insecticides within one hundred feet of any school, day care center, park, or on other property when children are commuting to and from school or are engaged in outdoor activity.
Creates a single, streamlined process whereby a facility or program operating both a pre-kindergarten program and a daycare program may apply for and receive any certification, licensing, or other requirement otherwise necessary to operate a pre-kindergarten program or daycare program under the laws of the state.
Provides funds for day care services for the children of persons 24 and under to enable such persons to continue secondary and post-secondary education; provides criteria to be governed by standards established for economically and educationally disadvantaged students under special opportunity programs for state and city universities; appropriates $5,600,000 to the office of children and family services therefor.
Establishes the Early Learning Child Care Act to impose a payroll tax on certain employers for the purposes of addressing child care affordability, accessibility, and quality for families with children under five years of age; establishes the early learning child care fund; establishes the early learning child care program to provide subsidies to covered children to attend early learning child care programs; establishes the New York state child care board.
Prohibits cannabis retail and on-site consumption licensees from operating such premises within one thousand feet of the perimeter of a school grounds; prohibits the advertising and marketing of cannabis content within one thousand feet of the perimeter of a school grounds, playgrounds, child day care providers, public parks, and libraries.
This bill establishes a $1.2 billion permanent fund to improve wages and benefits for New York's childcare workforce. It directly affects licensed childcare providers that accept families using the state's Child Care Assistance Program, requiring them to use at least 75% of funds for direct caregivers (like teachers), 10% for administrators, and the rest for program quality or expansion. The fund mandates that providers meet a new minimum compensation scale (developed with worker input) aiming to align childcare wages with public school educators. The Office of Children and Family Services will distribute funds based on factors like serving high-need children, underserved communities, and enrollment, with annual reporting requirements.
This bill exempts private and parochial schools, as well as day care centers, from state immunization requirements for children. It amends the public health law to remove these facilities from the definition of "school" subject to immunization mandates. The change directly affects private schools, parochial schools, and day care centers by eliminating their obligation to enforce childhood vaccination rules. The bill is currently referred to the Judiciary committee.
