S4767 KUHL
Education Law
TITLE....Provides for the imposition of certain procedures and standards
regarding home instruction to maintain competent and equivalent instruction of
home schooled students
BILL
TEXT:
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4767
2001-2002 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
April 17, 2001
___________
Introduced by Sen. KUHL -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to home instruction
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraph d of subdivision 2 of section 3210 of the educa-
2 tion law is amended to read as follows:
3 d. Exception. In applying the foregoing requirements a minor required
4 to attend upon full time day instruction by the provisions of this part
5 [one of this article] may be permitted to attend for a shorter school
6 day or for a shorter school year or for both, provided, in accordance
7 with the regulations of the state education department, the instruction
8 he receives has been approved by the school authorities as being
9 substantially equivalent in amount and quality to that required by the
10 provisions of this part [one of this article]. Provided, however, that
11 home instruction of a minor shall be in accordance with section three
12 thousand two hundred twenty-nine of this part.
13 § 2. The education law is amended by adding a new section 3229 to read
14 as follows:
15 § 3229. Home instruction. Notwithstanding any other provision of law,
16 to the extent that any provision of this section is inconsistent with
17 any other state or local law, rule or regulation, the provisions of this
18 section shall govern and be controlling. 1. Notice of intention to
19 instruct at home. a. Except as otherwise provided in paragraph b of this
20 subdivision, parents or other persons in parental relation to a student
21 of compulsory school attendance age shall annually provide written
22 notice to the superintendent of schools of their school district of
23 residence of their intention to educate their child at home by July
24 first of each school year. The school year begins July first and ends
25 June thirtieth for all purposes within this section. In the case of the
26 city school district of the city of New York, the school district of
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05845-02-1
1 residence
for students who, if enrolled in the
public schools,
would
2 attend
elementary school, intermediate school or junior high school in a
3 community
school district,
shall be deemed to be the community school
4 district
in which the parents reside.
5
b. Parents
who determine to commence home instruction after the start
6 of
the school year, or who establish residence in
the school
district
7 after
the start
of the school year, shall provide written notice of
8 their
intention to educate their child at
home within
fourteen days
9 following
the commencement of home
instruction within
the school
10 district.
11 2.
Attendance requirements. Each child shall attend
upon instruction
12 as
follows: The
substantial equivalent of
one hundred eighty days of
13 instruction
shall be provided each school year. The cumulative hours
of
14 instruction
for grades one through six
shall be nine hundred hours per
15 year.
The cumulative hours of
instruction for
grades seven
through
16 twelve
shall be
nine hundred ninety hours per year. Absences shall be
17 permitted
on the same basis as provided in the
policy of
the school
18 district
for its own students. Records of attendance shall be maintained
19 by
the parent
and shall be made available to the school district upon
20 request.
Instruction provided at a site other than the primary residence
21 of
the parents shall be provided in a building which has not been deter-
22 mined
to be in violation of the local building code.
23 3.
Annual assessment. The parent shall file an
annual assessment
in
24 accordance
with this
subdivision. The annual assessment shall include
25 the
results of a commercially published norm-referenced achievement test
26 which
meets the requirements of paragraph a of this subdivision,
or an
27 alternative
form of evaluation which meets the requirements of paragraph
28 b
of this subdivision.
29 a.
Commercially published norm-referenced achievement tests.
30 (1)
The test shall be selected
by the parent from one of the follow-
31 ing:
a nationally-normed standardized achievement test, a State
Educa-
32 tion
Department test,
or another test approved by the State Education
33 Department.
34 (2)
The test shall be administered in
accordance with
one of
the
35 following
options, to be selected by the parents:
36 (i)
at the public school, by its professional staff;
37 (ii)
at a
registered nonpublic
school, by its professional staff,
38 provided
that the consent of the chief school officer of
the nonpublic
39 school
is obtained;
40 (iii)
at a nonregistered nonpublic school, by its professional staff,
41 provided
that the consent of the chief school officer of
the nonpublic
42 school
is obtained; or
43 (iv)
at the
parents' home or at any other reasonable location, by a
44 New
York state-certified teacher or by another qualified person.
45 (3)
The test shall be scored by the persons administering the test
or
46 by
a testing service chosen by the parent.
47 (4)
The test shall be provided by the school district upon request by
48 the
parent, provided that the cost of any testing facilities,
transpor-
49 tation,
and/or personnel for testing conducted at a location other than
50 the
public school shall be borne by the parent.
51 (5)
If a score on a test is determined to be inadequate,
the program
52 shall
be placed
on probation pursuant to paragraph c of this subdivi-
53 sion.
A student's score shall be deemed adequate if: the student has a
54 composite
score above the twenty-third percentile on national norms; or
55 the
student's score reflects one academic year of growth as compared
to
56 a
test administered during or subsequent to the prior school year.
S. 4767
3
1
b. Alternative
evaluation methods. An alternative form of evaluation
2 shall
be permitted to be chosen by the
parent only
as follows:
for
3 grades
one through
twelve, a
written narrative prepared by a person
4 specified
in this paragraph. For the purposes of
this paragraph,
the
5 person
who prepares the written narrative shall be a New York state-cer-
6 tified
teacher, a
home instruction peer group
review panel, or other
7 person,
who has interviewed the child and reviewed a
portfolio of
the
8 child's
work. Such person shall
certify either that the child has made
9 adequate
academic progress or that the child has failed to make adequate
10 progress.
In the event that such child has
failed to
make adequate
11 progress,
the home
instruction program
shall be placed on probation
12 pursuant
to paragraph c of this subdivision. The certified teacher, peer
13 review
panel or other person shall be chosen by the parent. Any
result-
14 ing
cost shall be borne by the parent.
15 c.
If a dispute arises between
the parents and the superintendent of
16 schools,
including disputes over the administration of the
commercially
17 published
norm-referenced achievement
test or the use of
alternative
18 evaluation
methods, the parents may appeal to the board of education. If
19 the
parents disagree with the determination of the board
of education,
20 the
parents may appeal to the commissioner within thirty days of receipt
21 of
the board's final determination.
22 Probation.
(1) If a child's annual
assessment fails to comply with
23 the
requirements of this subdivision, the home instruction program shall
24 be
placed on probation for a period of up
to two school years.
The
25 parent
shall be required to submit a plan of remediation which addresses
26 the
deficiencies in
the child's achievement, and seeks to remedy such
27 deficiencies.
The plan shall be reviewed by the
school district.
The
28 school
district may
require the
parents to make changes in the plan
29 prior
to acceptance.
30 (2)
If after the end of any semester of the probationary
period, the
31 child
progresses to
the level specified in the remediation plan, then
32 the
home instruction program shall be removed from
probation. If
the
33 child
does not
attain at least seventy-five percent of the objectives
34 specified
in the remediation plan at the end of any given semester with-
35 in
the period of probation, or if after two
years on
probation one
36 hundred
percent of the objectives of the remediation plan have not been
37 satisfied,
the superintendent of schools shall provide the parents
with
38 notice
and the
board of
education shall review the determination of
39 noncompliance
in accordance with this paragraph, except that consent
of
40 the
parents to such review shall not be required.
41 §
3. This act shall take effect on the first day of July next succeed-
42 ing the
date on which it shall have become a law.
SPONSORS
MEMO:
NEW
YORK STATE SENATE
INTRODUCER'S MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT
submitted in accordance with Senate Rule VI. Sec 1
Memo
Text Not Found
SPONSOR: KUHL
STATUS:
S4767 KUHL
Education Law
TITLE....Provides for the imposition of certain procedures and standards
regarding home instruction to maintain competent and equivalent instruction of
home schooled students
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04/17/01 |
REFERRED
TO EDUCATION |
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SUMMARY:
KUHL
Amd S3210, add S3229, Ed L
Provides for the imposition of certain procedures and standards regarding home
instruction to maintain competent and equivalent instruction of home schooled
students.