S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                    828
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                                (PREFILED)
 
                              January 8, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced by M. of A. RAJKUMAR -- read once and referred to the Commit-
   tee on Education
 
 AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to establishing Diwali as
   a statewide school holiday
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Subdivision 8 of section 3604  of  the  education  law,  as
 amended  by  chapter  359  of  the  laws  of 2023, is amended to read as
 follows:
   8. No school shall be in session on a Saturday, the first day  of  the
 second  lunar  month after the winter solstice in the preceding calendar
 year known as Asian Lunar New Year, THE FIFTEENTH DAY OF  THE  MONTH  OF
 KARTIKA  ON THE HINDU CALENDAR IN EACH YEAR, KNOWN AS DIWALI, or a legal
 holiday,  except  general  election  day,  Washington's   birthday   and
 Lincoln's  birthday,  and  except  that  driver education classes may be
 conducted on a Saturday. A deficiency not exceeding four days during any
 school year caused by teachers'  attendance  upon  conferences  held  by
 superintendents  of  schools  of  city  school districts or other school
 districts employing superintendents of schools shall be excused  by  the
 commissioner,  notwithstanding  any provision of law, rule or regulation
 to the contrary, a school district may elect to schedule such conference
 days in the last two weeks of August, subject to  collective  bargaining
 requirements  pursuant to article fourteen of the civil service law, and
 such days shall be counted towards the required one hundred eighty  days
 of  session,  provided however, that such scheduling shall not alter the
 obligation of the school district to provide transportation to  students
 in  non-public  elementary  and secondary schools or charter schools. At
 least two such conference days during such school year  shall  be  dedi-
 cated  to  staff attendance upon conferences providing staff development
 relating to implementation  of  the  new  high  learning  standards  and

  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

                                                            LBD01032-01-5
 A. 828                              2
 
 assessments,  as  adopted  by the board of regents.  Notwithstanding any
 other provision of law, rule  or  regulation  to  the  contrary,  school
 districts may elect to use one or more of such allowable conference days
 in  units  of  not  less than one hour each to provide staff development
 activities relating to implementation of the new high learning standards
 and assessments. A district making such election may provide such  staff
 development  on any day during which sessions are allowed and apply such
 units to satisfy a deficiency  in  the  length  of  one  or  more  daily
 sessions  of  instruction  for pupils as specified in regulations of the
 commissioner. The commissioner shall assure that  such  conference  days
 include  appropriate  school violence prevention and intervention train-
 ing, and may require that up to one such conference day be dedicated for
 such purpose.
   § 2. Section 2586-a of the education law, as added by chapter  629  of
 the laws of 2023, is amended to read as follows:
   § 2586-a. Diwali as a holiday in the public schools of the city of New
 York. The fifteenth day of the [eighth] month of [the Indian] KARTIKA ON
 THE  HINDU  calendar  in  each year, known as Diwali, is hereby made and
 declared to be a holiday in all the public schools in  the  city  school
 district in the city of New York and such public schools shall not be in
 session on such day.
   §  3.  Subdivision  2-a of section 3635 of the education law, as sepa-
 rately amended by chapters 359 and 629 of the laws of 2023,  is  amended
 to read as follows:
   2-a. The superintendent of each city school district, in a city having
 a  population  in  excess  of one million, shall prepare a public school
 calendar and shall notify officials of nonpublic schools to which trans-
 portation has been requested not later than the first  day  of  June  in
 each year, of the days on which the public schools will be in session in
 the following school year. Such school district which provides transpor-
 tation  to  nonpublic  schools shall provide such transportation for the
 same number of days as the public schools are open but shall not provide
 transportation services for more than one hundred eighty  days.    Offi-
 cials  of each nonpublic school to which transportation is provided by a
 city school district of a city having a  population  in  excess  of  one
 million  may  notify such district, not later than the first day of July
 of each school year, of a maximum of five days, exclusive of  Saturdays,
 Sundays  or  legal holidays upon which public schools are required to be
 closed, on which the public schools are scheduled to be  closed,  except
 that  in  any year in which the first or last day of Passover and Easter
 Sunday are separated by more than seven days, such officials may  notify
 the  district of a maximum of ten days, but such school district will be
 required to provide for transportation to such nonpublic school provided
 that such five or ten additional  days,  whichever  is  applicable,  are
 limited  to  the  following: the Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday
 after Labor Day, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, the  week  in  which  public
 schools  are  closed  for  spring recess, December twenty-fourth and the
 week between Christmas day and New Year's day, the  Tuesday,  Wednesday,
 Thursday  and  Friday after the observance of Washington's birthday, the
 first day of the second lunar month after the  winter  solstice  in  the
 preceding  calendar  year,  known as Asian Lunar New Year, the fifteenth
 day of the [eighth] month of [the Indian] KARTIKA ON THE HINDU  calendar
 in  each  year,  known  as  Diwali, and, in the boroughs of Brooklyn and
 Queens only,  Anniversary  Day  as  designated  in  section  twenty-five
 hundred eighty-six of this chapter.
   § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.