STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 6182 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY April 3, 2023 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. CURRAN -- read once and referred to the Committee on Education AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to the annual extensions of transportation contracts for school districts The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Paragraph a of subdivision 14 of section 305 of the educa- 2 tion law, as amended by chapter 273 of the laws of 1999, is amended to 3 read as follows: 4 a. All contracts for the transportation of school children, all 5 contracts to maintain school buses owned or leased by a school district 6 that are used for the transportation of school children, all contracts 7 for mobile instructional units, and all contracts to provide, maintain 8 and operate cafeteria or restaurant service by a private food service 9 management company shall be subject to the approval of the commissioner, 10 who may disapprove a proposed contract if, in his opinion, the best 11 interests of the district will be promoted thereby. Except as provided 12 in paragraph e of this subdivision, all such contracts involving an 13 annual expenditure in excess of the amount specified for purchase 14 contracts in the bidding requirements of the general municipal law shall 15 be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder, which responsibility shall 16 be determined by the board of education or the trustee of a district, 17 with power hereby vested in the commissioner to reject any or all bids 18 if, in his opinion, the best interests of the district will be promoted 19 thereby and, upon such rejection of all bids, the commissioner shall 20 order the board of education or trustee of the district to seek, obtain 21 and consider new proposals. All proposals for such transportation, main- 22 tenance, mobile instructional units, or cafeteria and restaurant service 23 shall be in such form as the commissioner may prescribe. Advertisement 24 for bids shall be published in a newspaper or newspapers designated by 25 the board of education or trustee of the district having general circu- EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD10523-01-3
A. 6182 2 1 lation within the district for such purpose. Such advertisement shall 2 contain a statement of the time when and place where all bids received 3 pursuant to such advertisement will be publicly opened and read either 4 by the school authorities or by a person or persons designated by them. 5 All bids received shall be publicly opened and read at the time and 6 place so specified. At least five days shall elapse between the first 7 publication of such advertisement and the date so specified for the 8 opening and reading of bids. The requirement for competitive bidding 9 shall not apply to an award of a contract for the transportation of 10 pupils or a contract for mobile instructional units, if such award is 11 based on an evaluation of proposals in response to a request for 12 proposals pursuant to paragraph e of this subdivision. The requirement 13 for competitive bidding shall not apply to annual, biennial, or trienni- 14 al extensions of a contract nor shall the requirement for competitive 15 bidding apply to quadrennial or quinquennial year extensions of a 16 contract involving transportation of pupils, maintenance of school buses 17 or mobile instructional units secured either through competitive bidding 18 or through evaluation of proposals in response to a request for 19 proposals pursuant to paragraph e of this subdivision, when such exten- 20 sions (1) are made by the board of education or the trustee of a 21 district, under rules and regulations prescribed by the commissioner, 22 and, (2) do not extend the original contract period beyond five years 23 from the date cafeteria and restaurant service commenced thereunder and 24 in the case of contracts for the transportation of pupils, for the main- 25 tenance of school buses or for mobile instructional units, that such 26 contracts may be extended, except that power is hereby vested in the 27 commissioner, in addition to his existing statutory authority to approve 28 or disapprove transportation or maintenance contracts, (i) to reject any 29 extension of a contract beyond the initial term thereof if he finds that 30 amount to be paid by the district to the contractor in any year of such 31 proposed extension fails to reflect any decrease in the regional consum- 32 er price index for the N.Y., N.Y.-Northeastern, N.J. area, based upon 33 the index for all urban consumers (CPI-U) during the preceding twelve 34 month period; and (ii) to reject any extension of a contract after ten 35 years from the date transportation or maintenance service commenced 36 thereunder, or mobile instructional units were first provided, if in his 37 opinion, the best interests of the district will be promoted thereby. 38 Upon such rejection of any proposed extension, the commissioner may 39 order the board of education or trustee of the district to seek, obtain 40 and consider bids pursuant to the provisions of this section. The board 41 of education or the trustee of a school district electing to extend a 42 contract as provided herein, may, in its discretion, increase the amount 43 to be paid in each year of the contract extension by an amount not to 44 exceed the regional consumer price index increase for the N.Y., 45 N.Y.-Northeastern, N.J. area, based upon the index for all urban consum- 46 ers (CPI-U), during the [preceding] twelve month period ending on Decem- 47 ber thirty-first immediately preceding the commencement of the contract 48 extension, provided it has been satisfactorily established by the 49 contractor that there has been at least an equivalent increase in the 50 amount of his cost of operation, during the period of the contract. 51 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.