Authorizes the boards of education in union free school districts and central school districts to establish wards for the purpose of school board elections in Orange County.
Adds arts and music education as a common school branch that should be incorporated into the public school curriculum to provide a more well-rounded education for children.
Relates to grants to cover the costs of school resource officers; authorizes boards of cooperative educational services to enter into contracts with local police entities to provide school resource officers.
Enacts the student journalist free speech act to protect student speech at educational institutions unless such speech is libelous, an invasion of privacy, or incites students to commit an unlawful act, violate school policies, or to materially and substantially disrupt the orderly operation of the school.
Provides that state aid payments due for prior years shall be paid either from funds available in the general support for public school appropriation as a result of the deduction of excess payments of aid; or within the limit of the appropriation designated therefor.
Provides for defense and indemnification of a duly elected officer of a parents' association in New York City community school districts in suits by community board members or superintendents or school principals.
Directs the office of information technology services to contract with a private entity to conduct an examination and evaluation of New York state's information technology infrastructure, data use and management, policies, procedures and operational processes.
Establishes instruction in financial literacy for students in sixth through eighth grade; requires such instruction to include content on budgeting, savings, credit, debt, insurance, investment, and other issues associated with personal financial responsibility as determined by the education department.
Requires every middle school and every high school to provide instruction on vaccine science, including vaccine history and development, effects on the immune system, vaccine-preventable diseases and their spread, and vaccine safety and testing.
Establishes the differentiated learning environment task force, to conduct a comprehensive study on the way colleges and universities are preparing future teachers to work in urban settings and to offer differentiated classrooms.
Establishes a career and technical education (CTE) diploma; establishes a CTE pathway to a diploma shall be based on a curriculum designed to provide students with technical skills and shall demonstrate that the student is ready for a career as determined by regulations of the commissioner.