A 7904: Authorizes school districts to establish reserve funds for special services or programs upon approval by the board of education of such district in an amount not to exceed 10% of other reserve funds of the district.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 7904 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN ASSEMBLY April 11, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. SMULLEN -- read once and referred to the Commit- tee on Education AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to authorizing school districts to establish reserve funds for special services or programs The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 3651 of the education law is amended by adding two 2 new subdivisions 1-c and 3-b to read as follows: 3 1-c. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision one of this 4 section, any school district may establish a reserve fund for special 5 services or programs upon approval by the board of education of such 6 school district, and without any further approval being required by the 7 qualified voters of such school district, provided, however, that the 8 total of the monies held in such reserve fund shall not exceed ten 9 percent of the monies held by such school district in a reserve fund 10 established pursuant to subdivision one of this section. Such reserve 11 fund may be established for funding, in whole or in part, the cost of 12 any special services or programs established by such school district. 13 Upon approval of the creation of such reserve fund, the board of educa- 14 tion of shall determine the ultimate amount, the probable term, and the 15 source from which the monies of such reserve fund are to be obtained. 16 There shall be paid into such reserve fund an annual amount sufficient 17 to meet the requirements of such board of education's determination. In 18 addition, the board of education of such school district may from time 19 to time direct the school authorities to pay into such reserve fund 20 monies derived from any other source. Upon the creation of a reserve 21 fund under this subdivision, the board of education of the school 22 district may authorize a one-time removal of restrictions from any other 23 protected reserves of such school district to initially fund such 24 reserve fund. For the purposes of this subdivision, the term "special EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD10896-01-5 
 A. 7904 2 1 services or programs" shall have the same meaning as defined by section 2 forty-four hundred one of this chapter. 3 3-b. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision three of this 4 section, any school district which establishes a reserve fund in accord- 5 ance with subdivision one-c of this section may make expenditures from 6 such reserve fund for the purposes specified in such subdivision without 7 authorization of the voters. 8 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.