The Bloomberg administration is batting away criticism of its decision to name a school campus after a state senator facing re-election, saying the decision was based on the senator’s contribution to education in Queens.

Chancellor Joel Klein announced yesterday morning that the Glen Oaks campus in Queens, home to two elementary schools and a high school, would be named after Senator Frank Padavan, a Republican of Queens.

City rules prohibit schools from being named after living people, although a 2005 revision eliminated a one-year waiting period that used to ban rushing a naming decision 12 months after a death.

The Bloomberg administration is not awarding Mr. Padavan naming rights to any particular school; instead, a campus comprising three schools with their own individual names will bear his surname.

A Department of Education spokesman, David Cantor, said Mr. Klein reviewed a request to rename the campus after Mr. Padavan and deemed it “appropriate” because of Mr. Padavan’s role in getting the campus built.

Mr. Padavan “was instrumental in identifying the site, obtaining traffic easements, and building community support for constructing schools to alleviate overcrowding in Queens,” Mr. Cantor said.

“As a result, the campus now houses a state-of-the-art high school and two elementary schools,” he said.

Other elected officials are condemning the decision as unethical, particularly given that Mr. Padavan’s seat is being contested by a Democratic City Council member and could decide which party controls the Senate.

“Nothing against Frank, but we passed an ethics law last year that makes it illegal to participate in state-sponsored announcements or promotions, and this is about as close to that as you can come,” the deputy minority leader of the Senate, Eric Schneiderman of Manhattan, said. “To name something after a sitting state senator on the eve of an election campaign, I just don’t think it looks good.”

Senator John Sabini, a Democrat of Queens, called the naming decision “unusual.”

“Traditionally, in New York City we don’t name places after people till after they pass on, so irrespective of Senator Padavan, I don’t know if this is the way to go,” Mr. Sabini said. “I am a little surprised that the department of education would go against general city policy.”

In a telephone interview yesterday, Mr. Padavan said the decision came out of year-long discussions with the Education Department.

“We always have an election coming up, we run every years,” he joked when asked about the timing of the announcement. “I don’t think it has anything to do with this. This is the largest school complex any where in the state and the largest in the city by far and it would not be there if I hadn’t done it and that is a fact.”

Mr. Padavan said he had not lobbied for the school to be named after him but said he was not surprised due to the amount of work he had put in.

Mr. Padavan did not think it gave him an unfair advantage in the election.

This is but the latest public facility to carry Mr. Padavan’s name. A privately owned Little League complex in Belrose is Padavan Field, and a building that is part of the Alley Pond Environmental Center is Padavan Pavilion.

The director of the government watchdog New York Civic, Henry Stern, said he could remember at least one instance when a public space was named after a living politician.

“We named the playground for Jacob Javits,” Mr. Stern said. “But that was when he was ill and was being taken around in a wheelchair.”