BILL NUMBER: S8266
SPONSOR: SUTTON
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the education law, in relation to providing transporta-
tion after four o'clock
 
PURPOSE:
To ensure that funding provided for the After 4pm busing program is used
to increase the reimbursable transportation rate per student.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends subdivision 4 of section 3527 of the education law by
adding language that would require the New York City School District to
use available funding to increase the reimbursable transportation cost
per student.
Section 2 is the effective date
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Section 3627 of the education law provides critical transportation
support to nonpublic school students whose school day ends after 4:00pm.
Currently, the NYCDOE is required to reimburse students in grades K-6,
who attend school from 9:30 AM (or earlier) for regularly scheduled
academic classes through 4:00 PM or later.
Schools operate or contract for bus services and are reimbursed for
actual costs incurred, per student, per day. The current program caps
the reimbursement rate to $16/student/day. By contrast, NYC expenditures
on its own contracted bus service is $34/student/dayl.
In the 2025/26 State budget, annual increases in the aid cap for this
program were tied to the consumer price index. While these changes will
annually raise the aid cap to meet the program's growth, there is still
concern that the increase in the cap will not be used to raise the reim-
bursable transportation cost per student. This proposed legislation will
require NYCDOE to use any additional funding to increase the severely
substandard reimbursement rate.
 
FISCAL IMPACT:
None
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect July 1, 2025; provided that the amendments to
subdivision 4 of section 3627 of the education law made by section one
of this act shall take effect on the same date and in the same manner as
section of part A of chapter 56 of the laws of 2025, takes effect.
1 Mayor's Management Reports: https://www.nyc.gov/assets/operat
ions/download s/pdf /mm r2022/2022_mmdf, https://councitnyc.govibudget
/wp-content/upLoads/sites/54/2023/05/DOT.pdf

Statutes affected:
S8266: 3627 education law, 3627(4) education law