A 7398: Requires public elementary schools to start no earlier than eight a.m. and public secondary schools to start no earlier than eight thirty a.m.
What A 7398 does, verified December 9, 2025
The proposed law aims to improve the health and well-being of students by changing the start times of public elementary and secondary schools in New York. The law requires public elementary schools to start no earlier than 8 a.m. and public secondary schools to start no earlier than 8:30 a.m. Schools that do not comply with these start times will not be entitled to a portion of the school moneys allocated to them. The law will take effect immediately and apply to all academic years beginning on and after the specified date.
Bill journey
1IntroducedCurrent
2In CommitteePending
3First Chamber FloorPending
4Second ChamberPending
5GovernorPending
6ChapteredPending
Last action: enacting clause stricken (2025-12-08)Alert me
Quick answers about A 7398
- What is the current status of A 7398?
- As of December 9, 2025, A 7398 is recorded as "Introduced": it has been introduced and is waiting for its first committee hearing or floor vote. The last recorded action, on December 8, 2025, was "enacting clause stricken".
- Did A 7398 pass?
- Not yet. A 7398 has been introduced and has not passed either house.
- Who wrote A 7398, and where is it now?
- A 7398 was authored by Asm. Vacant Member with 11 coauthors. It is filed under EDN, alongside 312 other New York EDN bills this session.
Author and sponsors
Full contact details, staff, and committees with Connect, $16/moUnlockRecent actions2 total · showing 2
| Dec. 08, 2025 | enacting clause stricken |
| Mar. 25, 2025 | referred to education |
Latest bill textIntroduced version, March 25, 2025 · 337 words
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 7398 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY March 25, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. EPSTEIN, BURDICK, CUNNINGHAM, JENSEN, GIBBS, GALLAGHER, REYES, LEVENBERG, TAYLOR, KELLES -- read once and referred to the Committee on Education AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to requiring public elementary schools to start no earlier than eight a.m. and public secondary schools to start no earlier than eight thirty a.m. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 305 of the education law is amended by adding a new 2 subdivision 63 to read as follows: 3 63. The commissioner shall promulgate rules and regulations requiring 4 all public elementary schools within the state to start no earlier than 5 eight a.m. and all public secondary schools within the state to start no 6 earlier than eight thirty a.m. 7 § 2. Section 3604 of the education law is amended by adding a new 8 subdivision 8-a to read as follows: 9 8-a. a. No public elementary school within the state shall be enti- 10 tled to any portion of such school moneys on such apportionment unless 11 the report of the trustees or board of education for the preceding 12 school year shall show that such public elementary school started no 13 earlier than eight a.m. 14 b. No public high school within the state shall be entitled to any 15 portion of such school moneys on such apportionment unless the report of 16 the trustees or board of education for the preceding school year shall 17 show that such public secondary schools started no earlier than eight 18 thirty a.m. 19 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to all 20 academic years beginning on and after such date. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD06985-03-5
Text of A 7398 as introduced, from the official record. Connect Plus keeps every version and highlights what changed.Compare versions