New York S 1792: Permits union free and central school district boards of education to establish wards for the purpose of school board elections

Bill Text

STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1792
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 15, 2021
___________
Introduced by Sens. SKOUFIS, PARKER -- 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 the establishment of
school election wards in union free school districts and central
school districts
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 1702 of the education law is amended by adding a
2 new subdivision 4 to read as follows:
3 4. a. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, a
4 board of education of a union free school district may, by resolution
5 and subject to a mandatory referendum, establish school election wards
6 for purposes of electing individual trustees. There shall be at least
7 three, but no more than nine, school election wards within a school
8 district. One trustee shall be chosen from each ward by the qualified
9 voters therein. Within such resolution, a board of education may
10 require that a trustee elected to represent a ward shall be a resident
11 of such ward. Such resolution shall also provide for the signature
12 requirements for nominating petitions consistent with the applicable
13 provisions of this chapter.
14 b. (i) A resolution by the board of education, which shall be passed
15 no less than one hundred eighty days prior to a related referendum being
16 placed before the qualified voters of the school district during the
17 annual meeting and election, shall include an assessment and finding,
18 which shall take into account any historic disenfranchisement or
19 discrimination against any group of individuals within the school
20 district based upon race, gender, ethnicity, religion, socio-economic
21 status, or sexual orientation, including that no disenfranchisement or
22 discrimination would result from the adoption of the proposed resol-
23 ution. The board of education shall conduct no fewer than three public
24 hearings on such resolution.
EXPLANATION--Matter in (underscored) is new; matter in bracketsitalics
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02760-01-1

S. 1792 2
1 (ii) Such public hearings shall be conducted not less than thirty nor
2 more than ninety days prior to a vote on the resolution by a majority of
3 the qualified voters of the district. The district clerk shall give
4 notice of the public hearing by publishing a notice five times within
5 fifteen days preceding the hearing, on the district's website and in two
6 newspapers if there shall be two, or in one newspaper if there shall be
7 but one, having general circulation within such district. But if no
8 newspaper shall then have general circulation therein, said notice shall
9 be posted in at least twenty of the most public places in said district
10 fifteen days before the time of the first hearing.
11 (iii) Following such public hearings, a proposition for approval of
12 such resolution and the boundaries of proposed school election wards by
13 a majority of the qualified voters of such district shall be submitted
14 at the next succeeding annual meeting and election. The district clerk
15 shall give notice of such proposition by publishing notice prior to the
16 election, in the same manner and publication as the public hearings, set
17 forth in this section, specifying the time when and place or places
18 where such election will be held, the hours during which the polls will
19 remain open for the purpose of receiving ballots, and setting forth in
20 full the language of the proposition to be approved at such election.
21 In any event, such election shall be held in at least one location with-
22 in each of the proposed school election wards and the hours of the
23 election shall commence no later than six o'clock in the morning and
24 shall end no earlier than nine o'clock in the evening.
25 (iv) At least fifteen days prior to conducting public hearings, the
26 board of education shall define and publish, by resolution, boundaries
27 of each of the proposed school election wards. Should such map be
28 altered as a result of the public hearings, the amended map shall be
29 published pursuant to this paragraph no later than fifteen days before
30 the election. Such wards shall be contiguous and each ward shall
31 contain as nearly as possible the same number of inhabitants. Each ward
32 shall also conform as closely as possible with the attendance zone of
33 the school district, conform as closely as possible with geographic and
34 other physical boundaries, and retain contiguous communities of inter-
35 est.
36 (v) A map of each ward and the boundaries thereof shall be created
37 with the original filed with the district clerk within ten days of the
38 resolution and copies thereof filed in the board of elections of the
39 county. Upon each issuance of a federal dece