NY State Senate Bill 2025-S1025

Senate Bill S1025

2025-2026 Legislative Session

Relates to mandatory continuing education for teachers relating to immigrant focused trauma-informed practices

download bill text pdf

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Education Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

Please enter your contact information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

A valid email address is required.

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 08, 2025	referred to education

2025-S1025 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Education
Law Section:: Education Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §3006-a, Ed L
Versions Introduced in 2023-2024 Legislative Session:: S9092

2025-S1025 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Requires continuing teacher and leader education to include courses, programs and activities related to immigrant focused trauma-informed practices to support students who are dealing with adverse childhood or adolescent experiences as a result of immigration status.

2025-S1025 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S1025

SPONSOR: JACKSON
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the education law, in relation to mandatory continuing
education for teachers relating to immigrant focused trauma-informed
practices

 
PURPOSE:

To require mandatory continuing education for teachers relating to immi-
grant focused trauma-informed practices

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1. Subdivision 2 of section 3006-a of the education law, as
added by section 2 of subpart C of part EE of chapter 56 of the laws of
2015, is amended to require mandatory continuing education for teachers
relating to immigrant focused trauma-informed practices

Section 2. Enacting Clause

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Our immigrant students face unfathomable challenges in the context of
global migration political warfare, and xenophobia. As educators, we
work tirelessly to support immigrant families across New York State, who
make up nearly a quarter of our state's population (American Immigration
Council, 2020). We strive to provide culturally and linguistically rele-
vant and sustaining approaches as our students learn in a new land. We
provide for the physical needs of immigrant families by connecting them
with food pantries, social workers, housing experts, and clothing
drives. we support the legal and economic challenges they face and
provide them with resources to aid them in their transition. However, it
is just as important to address the social-emotional needs of these
students and their families when they arrive in our schools. They may
have endured unimaginable trauma, so it is our responsibility to meet
them where they are and nurture their social-emotional learning pathways
as they heal and integrate into their new communities. Many of our immi-
grant and refugee students have likely experienced first- or second-hand
trauma by virtue of the fact that they moved to a new place and may have
been separated from their families. According t o the National Child
Traumatic Stress Network (NYTSN), "A traumatic event is a frightening,
dangerous, or violent event hat poses a threat to a child's life or
bodily integrity. Witnessing a traumatic event that threatens (the) life
or physical security of a loved one can also be traumatic. This is
particularly important for young children as their sense of safety
depends on the perceived safety of their attachment figures" (NCTSN,
2023). New York State teachers need strategies that will help them iden-
tify trauma responses and work to reduce their impacts on students in
their classrooms.

According to NCTSN, "by age sixteen, two-thirds of children in the
United States have experienced a potentially traumatic event such a
physical or sexual abuse, natural disaster or terrorism, sudden or
violent loss of a loved one, refugee and war experiences, serious acci-
dent or life-threatening illness, or military family-related stress.

Many children, with support, are able to heal and overcome such traumat-
ic experiences" (NCTS, 2017).

Currently in New York City, the ration of students to social workers in
schools is 450:1. That's 450 students, many of who have been affected by
trauma, for every one social worker in our schools.  (Busone-Rodriguez,
2024).

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2024 - S. 9092 - REFERRED TO EDUCATION

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

N/A

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

2025-S1025 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   1025
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                                (PREFILED)
 
                              January 8, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen. JACKSON -- 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  mandatory  continuing
   education  for  teachers relating to immigrant focused trauma-informed
   practices

   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Subdivision  2 of section 3006-a of the education law, as
 added by section 2 of subpart C of part EE of chapter 56 of the laws  of
 2015, is amended to read as follows:
   2.  a. During each five-year registration period beginning on or after
 July first, two thousand sixteen, an applicant  for  registration  shall
 successfully  complete  a  minimum  of  one  hundred hours of continuing
 teacher and leader  education,  as  defined  by  the  commissioner.  The
 department  shall  issue  rigorous  standards for courses, programs, and
 activities, that shall qualify as continuing teacher and  leader  educa-
 tion  pursuant  to  this  section.  For purposes of this section, a peer
 review teacher, or a principal acting as an independent  trained  evalu-
 ator,  conducting  a classroom observation as part of the teacher evalu-
 ation system pursuant to section three thousand twelve-d of this article
 may credit such time towards [his or her] THEIR continuing  teacher  and
 leader effectiveness requirements.
   b.  (I) SUCH CONTINUING TEACHER AND LEADER EDUCATION REQUIRED PURSUANT
 TO THIS SECTION SHALL INCLUDE, BUT NOT BE LIMITED TO, A MINIMUM  OF  TEN
 HOURS  OF  CONTINUING EDUCATION COURSES, PROGRAMS AND ACTIVITIES RELATED
 TO IMMIGRANT FOCUSED TRAUMA-INFORMED PRACTICES TO SUPPORT  STUDENTS  WHO
 ARE DEALING WITH ADVERSE CHILDHOOD OR ADOLESCENT EXPERIENCES AS A RESULT
 OF  IMMIGRATION  STATUS.  FOR  PURPOSES  OF  THIS  PARAGRAPH, "IMMIGRANT
 FOCUSED TRAUMA-INFORMED PRACTICES" MEANS A FOCUS ON THE IMPACT OF TRAUMA
 RELATED TO IMMIGRATION STATUS AND THE EFFECT SUCH TRAUMA HAS ON PHYSICAL
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD02957-01-5
 S. 1025                             2
 
 HEALTH, MENTAL HEALTH, EARLY CHILDHOOD  OR  ADOLESCENT  DEVELOPMENT  AND
 CHILDHOOD OR ADOLESCENT TRAUMATIC STRESS. THE NUMBER OF HOURS OF CONTIN-
 UING  EDUCATION  REQUIRED  RELATED  TO IMMIGRANT FOCUSED TRAUMA-INFORMED
 PRACTICES  DURING EACH FIVE-YEAR REGISTRATION PERIOD SHALL BE DETERMINED
 BY THE DEPARTMENT.
   (II) THE DEPARTMENT SHALL ENSURE, IN CONSULTATION  WITH  PROVIDERS  OF
 CONTINUING  TEACHER  AND  LEADER  EDUCATION,  THAT COURSES, PROGRAMS AND
 ACTIVITIES RELATED TO IMMIGRANT FOCUSED  TRAUMA-INFORMED  PRACTICES  ARE
 MADE  SUFFICIENTLY AVAILABLE FOR AN APPLICANT FOR REGISTRATION TO COMPLY
 WITH THE REQUIREMENTS OF THIS PARAGRAPH.
   C. Nothing in this section shall limit the  ability  of  local  school
 districts to agree pursuant to collective bargaining to additional hours
 of  professional  development  or continuing teacher or leader education
 above the minimum requirements set forth in this section.
   [c.] D. A certified individual who has not  satisfied  the  continuing
 teacher  and  leader  education requirements shall not be issued a five-
 year registration certificate by the department and shall  not  practice
 unless  and until a registration or conditional registration certificate
 is issued as provided in subdivision three of this section. For purposes
 of this subdivision, "continuing teacher and leader  education  require-
 ments" shall mean activities designed to improve the teacher or leader's
 pedagogical  and/or  leadership  skills,  targeted  at improving student
 performance, including but not limited to formal continuing teacher  and
 leader  education  activities. Such activities shall promote the profes-
 sionalization of teaching and be closely aligned to district  goals  for
 student  performance  which meet the standards prescribed by regulations
 of the commissioner. To fulfill the continuing teacher and leader educa-
 tion requirement, programs must be taken from sponsors approved  by  the
 department,  which shall include but not be limited to school districts,
 pursuant to the regulations of the commissioner.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.