BILL NUMBER: S934

SPONSOR: PERSAUD
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the education law, in relation to establishing a grant
program for the installation of laundry equipment and facilities in
certain schools

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

This legislation would establish a competitive grant program for certain
Title I K-12 public schools to assist with purchasing and installing
laundry appliances and equipment where such facilities would assist
students residing in emergency housing and their families, or would
ameliorate frequent absenteeism due to a lack of clean clothes.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section 1 directs the Commissioner of Education to establish a compet-
itive grant program wherein certain Title I k12 public schools for
purposes of installing laundry equipment for students, parents and guar-
              

dians with preference going to those schools providing education to
homeless students and or students experiencing frequent absenteeism due
to lack of clean clothing.

Section 4 provides for an effective date of July 1st of the year follow-
ing becoming law.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Lack of clean clothing due to unstable housing and economic disadvantage
is gaining recognition as a factor in school absenteeism rates. This
little known cause is often not reported as such to school attendance
officers due to the shame associated with living in poverty.

Lack of clean clothing can lead to absenteeism for a number of reasons.
Students may avoid attending school because they have been bullied for
wearing soiled or stained clothing. Other students may be sent home with
a notice or letter of concern from the school. A student's clothing may
be unclean due to a lack of laundry facilities at or near the student's
home, or because the student is unstably housed or living in an emergen-
cy shelter. The same barriers exist for economically disadvantaged
students that are required to wear uniforms to maintain compliance with
a school dress code.

A number of K-12 schools across the country have installed school-based
laundry facilities wherein students and their parents or guardians can
wash the family's clothing. Providing this service to students and fami-
lies has positively impacted student absenteeism rates. See: Attendance
Playbook: Smart Strategies for Reducing Chronic Absenteeism in the COVID
Era (2020). Georgetown University, FutureED and Attendance Works.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New legislation.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

Dependent upon appropriation.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding the date
on which it shall have become a law.