Welcome back to another year of advocacy.

With the start of the new school year, the Coalition begins a new fiscal year. Attached to this message as a pdf file is the income expenses 14-15.numbers. We operate on the slimmest of margins, but thanks to the contributions of all of you and the generosity of WAETAG, we made it successfully through our year and were able to pay a $1700 bonus to our splendid lobbyist Donna R. Christensen for all her work during the recent, extended legislative session.

While we ended that session in the same place we started it, we did make some progress during session. There were several attempts in the Senate to increase HCP funding, although that was not reflected in the appropriation for HCP in the final budget.

The fact that the legislature did not increase HCP funding to match the actual costs of the program to the districts was brought to the attention of the state supreme court in the July 27 filing by NEWS, which is one of the plaintiffs in the McCleary case (the Coalition is a member of NEWS). This is the second time NEWS has called HCP underfunding to the attention of the court and we remain hopeful that this time the court will not simply accept the legislature’s statement that HCP is fully funded because they used the SHB 2776 formula and will remind them that saying something is true doesn’t make it so.

For our take on the extent of the underfunding, see the attached A 2response to Aug 13 court ruling pdf file.

If you wish to dig more deeply into the details of the court filings and rulings, go to   http://www.courts.wa.gov/appellate_trial_courts/SupremeCourt/?fa=supremecourt.McCleary_Education . Look especially at State of Washington Reply, May 29,2014, pages 5-6 and PlaintiffRespondents’ 2015 post-budget Filing of July 27, 2015, item 6, pages 45-6.

Although the Court clearly hoped for a special session, no action has been initiated to call one. The Senate K-12 Education committee is holding a series of workshop/hearings this fall, across the state, to gather public opinion of how best to meet the McCleary requirements. http://app.leg.wa.gov/mobile/meetingschedules/upcoming?agency=Senate&committee=EDU If one is scheduled in your area, give consideration to attending and speaking. The Coalition is organizing speakers for each of these meetings, but a good showing of advocate support will go a long way toward attaining our goals.

Whatever course events might take (special session/no special session), we need your financial support as we move forward.

We accept donations online by credit card and PayPal. Please CLICK HERE TO DONATE on PayPal. You don’t need a PayPal account to use a credit card with them.

We suggest a contribution of at least $40 but any amount is welcome.

Or, you can send a check direct to us if you don’t want to use PayPal. Make it payable to WCFGE, fill out the contribution form attached as a pdf file (membership 15-16 form) and mail it to:

Washington Coalition For Gifted Education
18149  147 Ave. SE
Renton WA  98058

If you are a member of a parent support or advisory group and its charter and tax status allow it to financially support advocacy efforts, please consider asking your group to become a supporting member of the Coalition by making an organizational contribution. There is no minimum amount as every dollar helps.

The Coalition is a registered political advocacy organization, not a 501c3 corporation.

The contribution form is usable for either individuals or groups.

Our deepest thanks for all your support last year, financially and through contacting legislators directly when asked. Please support us this year to get us through the final obstacle to full funding of HCP as a part of basic education.

If you wish to become a member of our affiliate organizations, NWGCA and WAETAG, please go to their web sites.
http://www.nwgca.org/donate.html   click on Donate
http://www.waetag.net/  click on Join/Contact WAETAG

If you are a teacher or administrator, you may be interested in WAETAG’s fall conference, October 16-17. More information at the WAETAG link just above.