Governor signs bill requiring student board members

On Board Online • September 23, 2024

By Eric D. Randall
Editor-in-Chief

On Sept. 12, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed into law a bill that will require every school district and BOCES board in the state to have at least one ex-officio student representative.

The law will take effect on July 1, 2025.

Under the new law, student school board members would not be empowered to vote or attend executive sessions. Nor would they be able to attend any meeting or hearing that is not open to the public (e.g., appeals to the board of education related to contests over student suspensions and district special education classifications and placement determinations).

Currently, about a third of school districts and BOCES have non-voting student board members, according to a NYSSBA poll of district clerks conducted earlier this year in March. Voters approved the creation of each of those student positions in accordance with current law, which requires a public referendum to create a student board position. The new law repeals the voter approval requirement.

"Our governmental relations department staff interacted with the sponsors over a period of months to share our views about whether this legislation was necessary," said NYSSBA Executive Director Robert Schneider. "We shared survey data and anecdotal stories that showed the majority of school districts already use a variety of methods to include students in their governance and decision-making processes. After numerous amendments were made that addressed specific concerns that NYSSBA raised, the association took 'no position' on the final version of the legislation."

"In the months to come, we will provide our members with detailed information to help them understand the law and its requirement, and provide guidance on how to best implement it," said Sandra Ruffo, president of the NYSSBA Board of Directors.