STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4741--A
2015-2016 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
April 15, 2015
___________
Introduced by Sens. GOLDEN, SQUADRON -- read twice and ordered printed,
and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Higher Education
-- recommitted to the Committee on Higher Education in accordance with
Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to private school agent's
certificates
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraphs a and b of subdivision 1 of section 5001 of the
2 education law, as amended by chapter 381 of the laws of 2012, are
3 amended and a new paragraph c is added to read as follows:
4 a. "licensed private career school" or "licensed private school" shall
5 mean any entity offering to instruct or teach any subject by any plan or
6 method including written, visual or audio-visual methods, and shall
7 include any institution licensed or registered as a registered business
8 school or computer training facility on the effective date of the chap-
9 ter of the laws of two thousand twelve which amended this subdivision.
10 Following such effective date, there shall be no distinction between
11 institutions previously defined as "registered business schools" or
12 "computer training facilities" and other licensed private schools, and
13 any reference in law to a registered business school or computer train-
14 ing facility shall be deemed a reference to a licensed private career
15 school. Institutions holding a valid business school registration on
16 such effective date, including computer-training facilities, shall have
17 such registrations replaced by the commissioner, at no cost, with
18 licenses valid until the expiration date listed on such previous regis-
19 tration; [and]
20 b. "certified English as a second language school" or "certified ESL
21 school" shall mean a language school conducted for-profit which provides
22 instruction in English as a second language and which accepts no public
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10154-03-6
S. 4741--A 2
1 funds and is certified pursuant to paragraph f of subdivision four of
2 this section[.]; and
3 c. "online education marketplace" shall mean a website or other inter-
4 net-based online technology tool with which a licensed private career
5 school or certified ESL school contracts for marketing or advertising
6 services, or services in connection with the collection of tuition
7 and/or fees to the extent authorized in subdivision three of section
8 five thousand four of this article.
9 § 2. Subdivision 3 of section 5004 of the education law, as amended by
10 chapter 19 of the laws of 2013, is amended to read as follows:
11 3. a. Exempted from the requirements of this section are persons
12 acting solely for schools which are not required to be licensed or are
13 specifically exempted from the licensing requirements of this article.
14 b. (i) Also exempted from the requirements of this section are an
15 online education marketplace as defined in paragraph c of subdivision
16 one of section five thousand one of this article, provided that the
17 online education marketplace complies with each of the following:
18 (1) An online education marketplace shall not solicit, procure, or
19 enroll any student for instruction in a licensed private career school
20 or certified ESL school, as defined by the commissioner in regulations.
21 (2) Upon receipt of any monies collected by an online education
22 marketplace from a prospective student for payment of tuition and/or
23 fees, the prospective student and the licensed private career school or
24 certified ESL school either shall execute an enrollment agreement in
25 accordance with regulations of the commissioner or the monies shall be
26 promptly returned to the prospective student in a timeframe and manner
27 prescribed by the commissioner in regulations.
28 (3) If an enrollment agreement is executed, the online education
29 marketplace shall forward the monies received from the prospective
30 student to the licensed private career school or certified ESL school in
31 a timeframe and manner prescribed by the commissioner in regulations.
32 (4) An online education marketplace shall not receive from a student
33 an amount greater than the tuition or fees to be charged by the licensed
34 private career school or certified ESL school to the student, and shall
35 separately account for monies received from the prospective student to
36 be thereafter transferred to a licensed private career school or certi-
37 fied ESL school in payment of tuition or fees, and any remuneration
38 and/or compensation received by the online education marketplace from a
39 licensed private career school or certified ESL school in payment for
40 services rendered to such school by the online education marketplace.
41 The licensed private career school or certified ESL school shall also
42 separately account for tuition or fees transferred to the school by an
43 online education marketplace on behalf of a student in payment of
44 tuition or fees, and payments made by the school to an online education
45 marketplace for services rendered to the school by the online education
46 marketplace.
47 (5) The commissioner may take disciplinary action against an online
48 education marketplace pursuant to section five thousand three of this
49 article, to the extent such provisions are deemed applicable by the
50 commissioner in regulations.
51 (6) An online education marketplace is prohibited from offering
52 advertising/marketing services to an unlicensed private career school or
53 uncertified ESL school.
54 (ii) Any licensed private career school or certified ESL school that
55 contracts with an online education marketplace shall comply with the
56 provisions of this subdivision and the regulations of the commissioner
S. 4741--A 3
1 or they may be subject to disciplinary action pursuant to section five
2 thousand three of this article.
3 c. Persons who are paid to procure, solicit or enroll students on the
4 premises of schools required to be licensed shall not be exempt from the
5 provisions of this section.
6 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.