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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Requires at least one full-time guidance counselor to be employed in each elementary, intermediate, middle, junior and senior high school throughout the state; sets duties of guidance counselors.
Requires school meal nutritional facts and ingredient list be provided for meals provided to students before serving such meal; allows such information to be posted on the school district website; requires the school district to notify parents or guardians of any changes in the meals, the new nutritional facts, and the itemized list of ingredients.
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.
Requires comprehensive training at least one time per year for school bus drivers and school bus attendants in the discouragement, prevention and detection of harassment, bullying and discrimination.