New York State reaffirms that schools should remain a safe haven where all students are welcomed and provided a free public education.

The Office of the New York State Attorney General (OAG), the Office of New York Governor Kathy Hochul, and the New York State Education Department (SED) jointly issued a memo in January 2025 to “reaffirm that schools should remain a safe haven where all students are welcomed and provided a free public education.”

Read the full memo

The joint guidance clarifies New York State’s school districts’ obligations under state and federal law, including the following:

Enrollment and registration

  • School districts may not refuse admission based on national origin, immigration status, race, or language proficiency, among other grounds.
  • Schools are prohibited from requesting a Social Security Card or number, or any information that would reveal immigration status at the time of enrollment.
  • Schools must immediately enroll migrant and unhoused students even if they lack proof of residency, immunizations, school records, or other documents typically required for registration.

Student information and records

  • The Family Education and Privacy Rights Act of 1974 (FERPA) prohibits schools from disclosing records with information about students’ immigration status to School Resource Officers (SRO) without the prior consent of a parent, guardian, or nonminor student, except under certain circumstances where SROs are considered school officials.
  • If a federal or local law enforcement official requests student information, a school should not disclose the information and should instead request the subpoena or other documentation upon which the request is based.
  • The memo recommends that school districts review their directory information policies to ensure that they do not include information that may inadvertently disclose a student’s immigration status.

Law enforcement access to students on school property

  • The memo contains a number of considerations for school districts regarding legal obligations and procedures in the event that law enforcement officers seek access to a student.

Bullying and harassment

  • The Dignity for All Students Act (DASA) gives school districts a legal duty to create a school environment free from harassment and bullying. These obligations include:
    • Developing policies for responding to such behavior
    • training staff on the district’s policies and incorporating them into the district’s code of conduct
    • providing students with instruction that discourages bullying, harassment, and discrimination; and
    • reporting incidents to the State Education Department.

Early childhood spaces

The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) has distributed a Guide to Creating “Safe Space” Policies for Early Childhood Programs, which has been updated to reflect the executive orders issued by the Trump administration on Jan. 20, 2025.

See the guide

This guide gives practitioners, advocates, and policymakers information and resources to design and implement ‘safe space’ policies that safeguard early childhood programs against immigration enforcement. A ‘safe space’ policy is a plan or set of protocols to mitigate the harm of possible immigration enforcement actions at or near early childhood programs and protect families’ safety and privacy.

Center for Law and Social Policy, 2025

It includes a sample template, guidance for reviewing and updating existing security protocols and procedures that maintain families’ privacy and confidentiality, protocols and procedures for interacting with immigration agents in the event of an enforcement action, and resources for parents and providers.