Senator Larkin Also Gives Support To Nonpublic School Students

Senator Bill Larkin (R-C, Cornwall-on-Hudson) is cosponsoring legislation in the New York State Senate that would provide aid to public schools so that they could loan computer hardware to the students attending nonpublic schools that are located within the public school district.

According to the legislation, the parents of nonpublic school students could request that the public school district loan computer hardware equipment to their children who attend private schools. The loan would be free to the nonpublic school student.

In addition, the public schools would not be required to loan computer hardware equipment to private school students at any cost greater than what the state is providing for this purpose.

"One very important area that nonpublic schools are in need of is additional funding for computer hardware," said Senator Larkin. "Access to technology is a critical piece of any student’s education. As a cosponsor of this bill, I believe we should be able to provide this assistance to all young learners, whether they attend public or private schools."

If approved, the state’s public schools would receive approximately $5 million from the state to implement this new program in the 2007-08 school year.