This bill lowers the compulsory school age from six to five years old for full-time instruction in New York State. It requires children who turn five on or before December 1st to start school in September of that year, while those turning five after December 1st can begin the following September. Parents may choose to delay kindergarten enrollment until the next September, and the bill maintains exceptions for high school completers and full-time workers. The change affects all school districts and parents of five-year-old children.
This bill prohibits public and nonpublic schools, including charter schools, from purchasing or using biometric identifying technology like facial recognition for most purposes. The law allows exceptions for fingerprinting prospective employees to comply with education laws, logging into digital devices for academic use, and identifying employees who have provided written consent or whose unions have consented. The bill requires the director of the state education department to prepare a detailed report analyzing privacy risks, civil rights impacts, security effectiveness, data retention, breach risks, costs, and other factors before any such technology can be authorized for school use. This report must be made public and shared with state leaders while seeking feedback from teachers, parents, safety experts, and privacy advocates through public hearings.
Establishes the mental health educational opportunity program and the mental health higher educational opportunity program to provide additional educational opportunities for students at certain universities and colleges in the state to enroll in academic programs that lead to a degree or degrees required for licensure in any of the mental health professions.
Provides that for the purposes of educational leave, an eligible incarcerated individual shall include an incarcerated individual who is within two years of being an eligible incarcerated individual.
Requires the administration of certain vaccines for children in accordance with regulations issued by the commissioner, utilizing generally accepted medical standards and based on recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American College of Physicians, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or other similar nationally or internationally recognized scientific organizations.
Requires anti-bias training for every medical student, medical resident and physician assistant student in the state; requires the department of health to make an annual report on the implementation and effectiveness of such training.
Enacts the "public university emergency contraception education act" requiring public universities to develop, produce and distribute informational materials related to emergency contraception.
Enacts the "freedom to read act"; requires the commissioner of education and school library systems to develop policies to ensure that school libraries and library staff are empowered to curate and develop collections that provide students with access to the widest array of developmentally appropriate materials available.
Provides for the inclusion of a faculty or staff member on the board of trustees of community colleges elected by and from among the faculty and staff of the college.
Prohibits the state university of New York from contracting out to the ground lessee or any subsidiary of the ground lessee or the research foundation for the state university of New York for any services or privatize any services currently being performed by employees in the unclassified service at the state university of New York at Albany.
