S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   1160
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              January 8, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  COONEY -- 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 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
 assessments, as adopted by the board of regents.    Notwithstanding  any
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD01032-01-5
              

 S. 1160                             2
 
 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.