BILL NUMBER:  S1933

 TITLE OF BILL :  An act to amend the education law, in relation to
establishing the St. Patrick's Day school holiday

 PURPOSE :

To establish St. Patrick's Day as a school holiday in the city of New
York

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section 1 of this bill amends the Education Law by adding a new
section 3204a, which provides for a school holiday for St. Patrick's
Day in a city school district having a population of one million or
more inhabitants

Section 2 of this bill adds a new subdivision 7-c to section 3604 of
the Education Law, which states that the Education Commissioner shall
disregard any reduction in attendance resulting from observance of St.
Patrick's Day and may be counted as a session day if necessary.

Section 3 provides that this act shall take effect on the one hundred
twentieth day after it shall have become a law; provided that any and
all rules and regulations and any other measures necessary to
implement any provisions of this act on its effective date may be
              

promulgated and taken, respectively, on or before such effective date.

 JUSTIFICATION :

St. Patrick's Day is the oldest cultural celebration in the
Irish-American community. It is a traditional time of reunion and
celebration with family and friends, as well as a holy day of
obligation for Irish Catholics. However, public schools do not close
for that day and education authorities have even gone so far as to use
the evening of this day for parent-teacher conferences. This places an
unfair burden on school children, parents, and teachers within the
Irish-American community. It is impractical to keep public schools
open in Irish-American communities when there is a significant number
of students and instructors who take the day off.

In 2014, the Governor approved legislation (Chapter 491) directing
school districts to determine whether school session should be held on
a day where a religious or cultural holiday would lead to a waste of
educational resources due to significant absenteeism. Considering that
a large Irish-American population in New York City is impacted by St.
Patrick's Day, schools should be closed for the observance of this
holiday, or if school is in session, a child's inability to attend
school on this holiday should be disregarded.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

New bill

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

To be determined.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after it
shall have become a law; provided that any and all rules and
regulations and any other measures necessary to implement any
provisions of this act on its effective date may be promulgated and
taken, respectively, on or before such effective date.