Bill Text: NY S00757 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Relates to pendency placements in a school district in a city having a population of one million or more.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - REFERRED TO DISABILITIES [S00757 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-S00757-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                           757

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                     January 6, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sen.  LIU  --  read  twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Disabilities

        AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to pendency placements in
          a school district in a city having a population of one million or more

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1.  Section  4404 of the education law is amended by adding a
     2  new subdivision 1-b to read as follows:
     3    1-b. a. Notwithstanding  any other provision of  law,  rule  or  regu-
     4  lation  to the contrary, in a school district in a city  having  a popu-
     5  lation  of  one million   or   more, the parent or  person  in  parental
     6  relation shall be entitled to the presumption that the school identified
     7  in a settlement agreement entered on or after the effective date of this
     8  subdivision  is  the  student's  operative placement for the purposes of
     9  pendency until there is an intervening,  pendency-changing  event  (that
    10  is,  an  actual  agreement  of the parties; an unappealed decision by an
    11  impartial hearing officer; a decision of the state review  officer  that
    12  agrees  with  the  parents  as  to the appropriateness of their proposed
    13  change in placement; or a determination by a court on  appeal  from  the
    14  decision  of  a state review officer) or a program offered by the school
    15  district and not challenged by the parent. Each  child's  IEP  shall  be
    16  reviewed  periodically,  but  not  less  frequently  than  annually,  as
    17  required by 20 U.S.C. 1414(d)(4)(A)(i). Pendency  payments  for  tuition
    18  shall  be  at  the tuition cost of the previous year's payments unless a
    19  new IEP was performed, and shall be made prospectively and shall be made
    20  for amounts not less than two months' worth of tuition or the  remaining
    21  balance on the contract, whichever is smaller, provided that the initial
    22  tuition  payment may include retroactive payments. Pendency payments, as
    23  provided for in subdivision four of this section, shall  continue  unin-
    24  terrupted while the appeal is pending.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD00163-01-3
        S. 757                              2

     1    b. Where a claim for tuition for a school year commencing in two thou-
     2  sand  twenty  or  earlier  has been filed pursuant to this section on or
     3  before June thirtieth, two thousand twenty-two and remains  pending  and
     4  timely,  the  local  educational agency of a city having a population of
     5  over  one  million shall, on or before January first, two thousand twen-
     6  ty-four, make all reasonable efforts to finalize a settlement or  inform
     7  the parent or person in parental relation, or their representative, that
     8  it  has  not  been  able  to settle the claim. Nothing in this act shall
     9  preclude parties from reaching a settlement  after  January  first,  two
    10  thousand  twenty-four.    Any  settlements  for tuition, including those
    11  already settled, shall include a schedule for  payments,  the  first  of
    12  which  shall begin no later than sixty days after the latter of the date
    13  the settlement is fully executed or receipt of  documentation  necessary
    14  for  payment, and the remainder of which shall be completed within sixty
    15  days of receipt of any documentation necessary for payment.
    16    § 2. This act shall take effect September 1, 2023.