Campaign Season In Full Swing; General Election Coming Up

• Due to retirements and redistricting, many of you are finding yourself in a new district and/or with new candidates to consider.

• We will have a new Governor and education seems to be a major issue in the campaign.

• 20% of the seats in the Legislature are open.

• Supt. of Public Instruction Randy Dorn will be unopposed on the ballot.

• Initiative 1240 on charter schools is among the issues before the voters.

Do visit the web page of the Secretary of State for more voter information, a voters’ guide and make use of your custom-tailored voter guide. http://blogs.sos.wa.gov/FromOurCorner/index.php/2012/09/heres-your-wa-2012-electionataglance/

Please attend candidate forums and presentations and ask key questions about the candidate’s support for Highly Capable Programs.

The following are some key points to be made when questioning candidates.

– Washington is on the cutting edge in establishing a quality education for Highly Capable students. We are the first state to make it a part of basic education.

– To retain the educated business community and their families, we need to provide a high quality education system for children who will be our future leaders.  Support for Highly Capable Programs is an opportunity to move forward in raising standards and promoting economic growth in Washington.

– Three important pieces are now in place:

Effective with the school year 2012-2013, Highly Capable Programs are part of basic education for students in K – 12.
Highly Capable Program Technical Work Force was given the mission to standardize state-level procedures, including definition, identification, and criteria for programs. This task is completed and the Report is available at http://www.k12.wa.us/HighlyCapable/Workgroup/default.aspx
Special Endorsement – Washington State now offers educators a special endorsement in gifted education.

– The challenge is to insure that districts have the support needed to fully implement highly capable programs K-12 as part of basic education.

Tell candidates that we need them to:

Support legislation or policies that provide educators with access to appropriate training and/or professional development in identifying highly capable learners and serving their divergent educational needs.

Support for data collection and out of level testing to help measure growth for these students and to assist in determining success of programs.
Within revenue limitations, fulfill the constitutional requirement of ample funding of basic education as upheld in the McCleary Decision.

Summary

Advocacy for maintaining highly capable programs is about giving highly capable learners an appropriate education. As HB 2261, Sec. 708 stated: for highly capable students, access to accelerated learning and enhanced instruction is access to a basic education.

Highly Capable students are found in all populations – rural, urban, socio-economic levels, ethnic groups.  Approximately 50,000 students receive services but another 50,000 will be able to have these services with K-12 implementation.

Attachments:
List of open seats in the Legislature
Information about a free forum for gifted students and their parents in Tacoma