S 1491: Authorizes a weighted selection process prioritizing children who would be eligible to receive free or reduced price lunch and/or who are emergent multilingual learners for the allocation of certain prekindergarten seats in school districts where there are more eligible children than can be served in a given school year.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 1491 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE January 10, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. FAHY -- 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 authorizing a weighted selection process for the allocation of certain prekindergarten seats The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Paragraph i of subdivision 7 of section 3602-e of the 2 education law, as amended by section 19 of part B of chapter 57 of the 3 laws of 2007, is amended to read as follows: 4 i. establishes a method for selection of eligible children to receive 5 prekindergarten program services on a random selection basis where there 6 are more eligible children than can be served in a given school year, 7 provided, however, that in a school district where there are more eligi- 8 ble children than can be served in a given school year that such school 9 district elect to first enroll children who would be eligible for free 10 or reduced price lunch and/or children who are emergent multilingual 11 learners. If a district elects to prioritize enrollment of children who 12 are eligible for free or reduced price lunch and/or children who are 13 emergent multilingual learners and there are more such eligible children 14 than can be served in a given school year, such school district shall 15 establish a method for selection among such eligible children on a 16 random basis, and provided further that a school district that operated 17 a targeted prekindergarten program in the base year may use the 18 selection process established for such program. 19 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD03514-01-5