New York is one of seven states that mandate the teaching of Holocaust and genocide studies at some point in elementary or secondary school curricula.
One of the major public policy issues in recent decades has been the attempt by poorer communities to get more state funding to compensate for what they cannot generate in property taxes.
Carol O'Connor notes that between 1896 and 1935, the state legislature made eight amendments to the compulsory education law.
The goal was to keep children in school for a longer period of time, which would in turn keep them off the labor market.
More than 274,000 degree-credit, adult, continuing and professional education students are enrolled at campuses located in all five New York City boroughs.
New York has hundreds of private colleges and universities, including many religious and special-purpose institutions.