NY bill would make crimes out of SAT test cheating

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Updated: January 24, 2012 5:18PM

ALBANY, N.Y. — A New York lawmaker wants to make cheating on college entrance tests a crime following a scandal in an affluent New York City suburb.

Sen. Kenneth LaValle (luh-VAL’) of Suffolk County released the draft bill Tuesday. It would create a new crime of facilitation of education testing fraud and another law of scheming to defraud educational testing.

Those crimes would be felonies punishable by prison sentences.

A misdemeanor would also be created for forgery of a test. That would be punishable by up to a year in jail.

The Senate is holding hearings following a September scandal in Nassau County involving 20 people accused of a cheating scheme that involved impostors paid $500 to $3,600 to take tests in place of high schoolers.