Gifted Education Day 2013 Resolutions

Gifted Education Day 2013 was a huge success with our best turnout ever. Our thanks to everyone who took the time to come to Olympia to show their support for Highly Capable Programs!

The two houses of the legislature adopted nearly identical resolutions honoring Gifted Education Day. The sponsors of the resolution are listed below. If one of them represents you, please send a thank you email for their sponsorship and ask that this support be manifested in a yes vote for a new, more equitable formula and increased funding in the upcoming budget. Email address are on https://dlr.leg.wa.gov/MemberEmail/Default.aspx

HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 2013-4640
By Representatives Maxwell, Haler, Sullivan, Tarleton, Bergquist, Orwall, Magendanz, Stonier, Ryu, Habib, Fitzgibbon, Farrell, Holy, Sells, Zeiger, Wylie, Johnson, and Kagi

SENATE RESOLUTION 8622
By Senators Rivers, Litzow, Hewitt, Braun, Bailey, Honeyford, Baumgartner, Carrell, Smith, Kohl- Welles, Ericksen, Holmquist Newbry, Hobbs, Fain, Hargrove, Parlette, Fraser, Murray, Darneille, Cleveland, Hill, Schlicher, Hatfield, McAuliffe, Mullet, Padden, Brown, King, Schoesler, Dammeier, Tom, Pearson, Becker, Nelson, Conway, Benton, Hasegawa, Chase, Billig, Ranker, Frockt, Keiser, Eide, Harper, Kline, Roach, and Rolfes

Following adoption of the Senate resolution, students gathered on the floor of the Senate chamber for a group photo.

There was also a Proclamation from the Governor’s office for Gifted Education Day.

Funding

There are a number of bills in the legislature which contain the current funding formula – which needs to be changed. This formula was intended to be temporary until more information was obtained on the percentage of students to be funded and the number of hours needed. (The formula doesn’t represent the actual working of an HCP, but is used for funding purposes only.) A study was done by the Highly Capable Technical Working Group and their Recommendations were endorsed by the Quality Education Council in 2011, 2012 and 2013. It is past time that these recommendations be enacted into law. We are asking for a funding increase to 5% of FTE with an average across grade levels of 5 hours a week.

Based on conversations with legislators, prospects for our appeal don’t look too rosy. However, we are working as hard as we can to get this new formula enacted and implemented. If we need a mass email campaign, we will let you know. Meantime, contact the resolution supporters listed above and ask for their support in your thank you email.

Washington Administrative Code – the WACs

Gayle Pauley, of OSPI, brought us the excellent news that the revised WACs have been approved and will go into effect in April. The revised WACs set in place a well designed system that starts looking equitably for kids early on, using multiple means of identification. This will lead to better equity of opportunity for all, long term. Now we need the funding to allow districts to accomplish the tasks assigned to them.

The proposed revisions of the WACs can be found on http://www.k12.wa.us/HighlyCapable/ default.aspx . There were changes from the comments at the public hearing.

The approved, revised WAC has not yet been posted on the web but when it is we will send you a link. The WAC is your guideline to what your local district needs to be doing for gifted students.

As mentioned above, GEDay 2013 was our best attended Day ever. The capitol building was

awash with our identifying lime green scarves. Thanks again to Puyallup which provides these important visual symbols!

Our keynote speaker was Senator Joe Fain. Senators Bruce Dammeier and Alice Rivers and Rep. Steve Bergquist also dropped in and spoke to the assembly. Governor Inslee declined our invitation to drop in but a group of students on a tour ran into him in the hallway and took advantage of this to talk with him about why they were in Olympia.

We sent him a copy of the photo just to remind him of the importance of adequate funding for Highly Capable Programs.

Also speaking to the group were Gayle

Pauley of OSPI, who brought us the good news on the WAC, and Kelly Munn of the League of Education Voters who spoke to us about the importance of advocacy. Our thanks to all who dropped in and spoke to us.

There are great pictures and comments on our Facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/ wagifted Take a look and while you are there, take the time to friend us. We are close to our interim goal of 700 friends.

Gifted Education Day 2014

Our 2014 Day is scheduled for February 28, 2014. If you already have a 2014 calendar going, mark the day now. We want 2014 to be even better than 2013!

Campaign to Increase Education Funding Now

A number of state-wide education advocacy groups (the Coalition among them) have joined together in a media and contact campaign to the Legislature about education funding. Legislators told us time and again that, while they are getting loads of emails about gun control, they hear practically nothing about education funding. And according to the McCleary Decision, education funding must be their first priority in the upcoming budget.

Let your legislators know that you want to fully fund education NOW. You can participate in this campaign either through the League of Education Voters at http://educationvoters.org / (click on the banner for Tell your Legislators to Fully Fund Education Now when it cycles past and follow the links) or through the PTA web site http://capwiz.com/wastatepta/issues/alert/? alertid=62521831&PROCESS=Take+Action Or you can just use the Hotline 1.800.562.6000 or email your legislators using your own words. Legislator email contact information is in paragraph 2 above.

A Good Resource on Budgets

http://leap.leg.wa.gov/leap/default.asp is the source from which the Coalition gets its enacted and proposed budget information. It is also a good source of information on how the legislature does the budget. House Operating Budget Briefing Book and Senate Operating Budget Briefing Book are great sources of information. If you like to delve into these details, we suggest you download them and take a look. Interesting factoid, page 43 of the House book: HCP funding is 0.1% of basic education expenditures.

The link Legislative Proposals will lead you to the current House Republican budget proposal and to the other proposals coming this session as they are made public. We anticipate the Senate proposal sometime next week, the Governor’s shortly thereafter, and the House Democratic proposal soon after that. The main budget “action” begins about April 1st. We will keep you informed as these proposals are introduced and as they proceed through hearings and votes.

Contacting Your Legislators

There is no better time than now to contact your legislators about your support for fully funding education now and for fully funding Highly Capable Programs at 5%. You don’t need to wait for a prompt from the Coalition. Use your own words but keep your message short and succinct. If you are using the Hotline 1.800.562.6000 try to write your message out before hand. Operators take down your message and transmit it to the intended recipient so it helps them if you have your message polished and ready to go when you call. If you are calling your legislator’s office direct, you will likely talk to the legislative aide and, again, having your message written out and ready to go can make the conversation easier. We used to advise handwritten letters to legislators but beginning with this session, the Legislature has indicated a distinct preference for email communications. Legislator email contact information is in paragraph 2 above.

Thank You For Your Support and Advocacy