Int. No. 691-A
By Council Members Louis, Stevens, Salaam, Ossé, Gennaro, Hanks, Feliz, Brooks-Powers, Marte, Gutiérrez, Narcisse, Farías, Riley, Cabán, Avilés, De La Rosa, Nurse, Hanif and Sanchez
A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to annual reporting on racial and gender disparities in STEM education for high school students
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. Title 21-A of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new chapter 40 to read as follows:
CHAPTER 40
SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND MATH EDUCATION
§ 21-1012 Reporting on science, technology, engineering, and math education. a. Definitions. For purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:
High school. The term “high school” means a school of the city school district of the city of New York that contains any combination of grades from and including grade 9 through grade 12.
STEM. The term “STEM” means science, technology, engineering or math.
STEM activity. The term “STEM activity” means a STEM class offered by a high school or a STEM extracurricular program offered by the department that is available to high school students.
High school student. The term “high school student” means any pupil who does not have a high school diploma and who is enrolled in a high school as of October 31 of the school year being reported.
b. Annual survey. Beginning in 2027 and annually thereafter, the department shall collect feedback from high school students about their experiences with STEM. Such feedback solicitation shall include questions that are intended to ascertain the reasons for any racial and gender disparities in enrollment and disenrollment in STEM activities.
c. Annual report. Beginning annually in 2027, no later than January 31 of each year, the commissioner shall submit to the mayor and the speaker of the council, and shall post conspicuously on the department’s website, a report on STEM activities for high school students.
1. The annual report shall include a table in which every row is a STEM activity that was offered in the previous academic year. Each such row shall include the following information, set forth in separate columns:
(a) The name of the STEM activity aggregated by class or extracurricular;
(b) Whether the STEM activity was a class or an extracurricular program;
(c) The school or site where the STEM activity was offered;
(d) The number of high school students enrolled, in total and disaggregated by the categories set forth in subdivision b of section 21-957.1;
(e) For classes, the number of sections of a class;
(f) For classes, whether the class was an advanced placement class; and
(g) For classes, the number of high school students who passed the class upon its conclusion at the end of the semester or year, in total and disaggregated by the categories set forth in subdivision b of section 21-957.1.
2. The annual report shall include a table in which every row is a high school. Each such row shall include the number of certified STEM instructors providing instruction at each school in the previous academic year, disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and full-time or part-time status.
3. Beginning in 2028, the annual report shall include the methodology for how feedback was requested and a narrative description of the student feedback received for the survey established pursuant to subdivision b of this section.
4. The annual report shall include, based on a review of the data and applicable research, potential causes for low student STEM activity enrollment rates, decreasing student STEM activity enrollment rates, student disenrollment in STEM activities, and racial and gender disparities in enrollment, retention, and disenrollment in STEM activities.
5. No information that is otherwise required to be reported pursuant to this section shall be reported in a manner that would violate any applicable provision of federal, state, or local law relating to the privacy of student information or that would interfere with law enforcement investigations or otherwise conflict with the interests of law enforcement. If a category contains between 1 and 5 students, or contains an amount that would allow another category that contains between 1 and 5 students to be deduced, the number shall be replaced with a symbol. A category that contains zero shall be reported as zero, unless such reporting would violate any applicable provision of federal, state, or local law relating to the privacy of student or identifiable information.
§ 2. This local law takes effect 120 days after it becomes law.
YN/JGP
LS #16276
11/17/2025 9:15 pm