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LYNBROOK UFSD board adopts resolution to opt out of state regionalization planning rule
Summary
The Lynnbrook Union Free School District Board of Education voted to opt out of participating in New York StateEducation Department regionalization planning under newly adopted Part 124, notifying state officials that the district will not submit the required strength-and-needs tool or take part in planning meetings.
The Lynnbrook Union Free School District Board of Education voted to adopt a resolution electing not to participate in the state'mandated regionalization planning process, the board announced at its Jan. 8 regular meeting.
The board read and adopted Resolution 25-01-G-1, which states that the district "elects not to participate in the development of a regionalization plan" and will not submit the strength-and-needs tool prescribed by the commissioner of education. The resolution authorizes the superintendent to send notice of the district's election to the New York State Education Department and to "reserve all the school district's rights and remedies." The motion to adopt the resolution was seconded and approved by voice vote; no roll-call tally was recorded in the meeting transcript.
The resolution responds to a rule recently adopted by the New York State Board of Regents that adds Part 124 and Subpart 124.2 to Subchapter E of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education and requires districts to take part in regionalization planning, including convening with district superintendents and other stakeholders and submitting a state-prescribed strength-and-needs tool. The board's resolution declares the district will not submit that tool or engage in regionalization planning or implementation.
The board's presiding speaker read the rule citation and the district's resolution aloud during the meeting. The resolution's text, as read at the meeting, cites the Board of Regents' final rule adoption dates of Dec. 9 and Dec. 10, 2024, and notes the regulation's effective date as Dec. 24, 2024.
Board members did not record debate or a roll-call vote in the transcript beyond the motion, second and a voice agreement of "all in favor." The resolution directs the superintendent to provide written notice of the election to the State Education Department; the district did not provide additional public details at the meeting about next steps or potential legal actions beyond the statement that the district "reserves all the school district's rights and remedies."
The decision came under the meeting's old-business agenda item on regionalization. The board previously discussed the topic at an earlier meeting and agreed to adopt the opt-out resolution, which the board then formalized on Jan. 8.
The action means the district will not complete or submit the strength-and-needs tool described in the new state rule and will not participate in regionalization planning or implementation unless it later changes that election.
The board also approved a separate consent agenda of multiple routine resolutions and motions during the same meeting.
The resolution text read at the meeting and the board's vote are part of the official meeting record. The superintendent is authorized to transmit the district's election to the state.
