Senator Avella’s Bill Making St. Patrick’s Day a School Holiday Passes Education Committee

Queens, NY – Today, Senator Tony Avella’s bill that would establish St. Patrick’s Day as a school holiday in New York City passed through the education committee. The bill will now head to the Senate floor where it will be voted on at some point during the current legislative session.

In introducing this legislation—which passed the Senate last March but did not receive a vote in the Assembly—Senator Avella argued that St. Patrick’s Day should be established as a school holiday, just as many other cultural and religious holidays, and noted that the Irish community is long overdue for this recognition.

New York State has the largest concentrated Irish population in the United States, 12.9%, and New York City itself was the first to host a Saint Patrick’s Day Parade in 1762, which continues to be one of the most widely attended traditions in the city.