New York Senate Bill S03906 Latest Draft

   
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 3906 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE January 30, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. 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 making certain provisions applicable to public schools relating to instruction in civility, citizenship and character education The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 801-a of the education law, as amended by chapter 2 102 of the laws of 2012, is amended to read as follows: 3 § 801-a. Instruction in civility, citizenship and character education. 4 The regents shall ensure that the course of instruction in grades 5 kindergarten through twelve includes a component on civility, citizen- 6 ship and character education. Such component shall instruct students on 7 the principles of honesty, tolerance, personal responsibility, respect 8 for others, with an emphasis on discouraging acts of harassment, bully- 9 ing, discrimination, observance of laws and rules, courtesy, dignity and 10 other traits which will enhance the quality of their experiences in, and 11 contributions to, the community. Such component shall include instruc- 12 tion of safe, responsible use of the internet and electronic communi- 13 cations. The regents shall determine how to incorporate such component 14 in existing curricula and the commissioner shall promulgate any regu- 15 lations needed to carry out such determination of the regents. For the 16 purposes of this section for courses of instruction in public schools, 17 "tolerance," "respect for others" and "dignity" shall include awareness 18 and sensitivity to harassment, bullying, discrimination and civility in 19 the relations of people of different races, weights, national origins, 20 ethnic groups, religions, religious practices, mental or physical abili- 21 ties, sexual orientations, genders, and sexes. 22 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD07369-01-5