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Fm: Laura Biggerstaff, Esq. Question: Are small city
school districts required to conduct an annual student census? Discussion: Pursuant to Education Law §3241 the Boards of Education in small city school districts are required to cause a census of all children residing in the city. Such census must be amended “day to day as changes in residence occur” so that a complete copy is always on file with the BOE. “Children” is defined as residents between birth and eighteen years of age, or until age twenty-one if the resident is mentally or physically handicapped. The census must include the following: the child’s name, residence by street and number, date of birth, parental name(s), information as to any handicap, illiteracy, employment, or enforcement of child labor and compulsory education laws. Additional information may be required by the BOE. Parents/guardians must provide the BOE with the necessary information two weeks before the child becomes of compulsory school age, when the child becomes a resident of the city for the first time, when the child is removed from one school and sent to a different school, and when the child’s residence is changed from one police precinct to another. See attached copy of §3241. Section 3242 of the Education Law applies to school districts generally. It states that the BOE “may” cause a census of all children between birth and age eighteen, which is already required of BOEs in small city school districts under §3241. This section does further specify that the census should be in duplicate, with one copy filed with the teacher or principal and the other filed with the district superintendent or superintendent on or before October 15th of each year. Information regarding handicapped individuals under age twenty-one must be filed annually with the superintendent of BOCES of which the school district is a part. See attached copy of §3242. Two additional sections of the education law relate to the implementation of the census requirement: §3243 sets maximum penalties for parents/guardians who withhold the necessary information and §3213 grants attendance officers the authority to enter public places to determine residency and other census information. State Education Department regulations impose additional requirements for the census of students with disabilities. Section 200.2 (a) of the Commissioner’s regulations, contained in New York Codes, Rules and Regulations, states that it is the responsibility of the BOE to conduct a census of all children with disabilities who reside in the district and to create a register of all such children eligible for public education under §4410 of the Education Law. The register must be revised annually by the district’s Committee on Special Education, or the Committee on Special Pre-school Education, as appropriate. The BOE shall report the census data to the above committees by October 1st of each year. In addition to the information specified by §3241 the following data is included: the native language of the child’s home, his or her suspected disability, dates of referral, evaluation, and recommendations of the Committee on Special Education, placements and program reviews, the site of the educational program, student information specified under IDEA (race, ethnicity, LEP, gender, disability), and if applicable, explanation of why the child is not receiving an appropriate public education. The BOE must keep on file the register and summary reports of student data, including number of students served and not served, which will be available for examination by SED representatives. Furthermore, a summary report must be submitted to the SED. The regulations also require that data collectors have been trained, the BOE has established procedures to service private school students with disabilities and has adopted related written policies. See attached copy of the regulations for the specific policies required. Appendix I of Title 8 of NYCRR provides for lengths of time school census records must be retained. Census records created after 1949 are generally to be kept for six years past when the information becomes obsolete. A complete set of such records in the form of booklets, lists, or in electronic form should be kept on permanent file once every five years. The Education Commissioner’s Decisions do not provide a great deal of guidance on the matter of the school census requirement. These decisions make reference to the census when parental submissions made in response to requests for census data trigger a district’s inquiry into the actual residence of a child. Similarly, there is a dearth of relevant caselaw. School census data has been used as evidence in unrelated types of disputes, such as those involving estate and labor law.
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