As we announced in June, the Coalition has new leadership this fall. Co-Presidents are Janis Traven of Seattle and David Berg of Puyallup. Barbara Poyneer continues as Treasurer and sender of […]
NAGC and its advocacy partners are gearing up for some activity in the Congress in support of gifted students in the next month. Today they are asking for your help in advancing the TALENT Act in the Senate. The TALENT Act, which was introduced by Senators Grassley (IA), Casey (PA), and Mikulski (MD), amends ESEA to support high-ability and high-achieving students.
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions is preparing to revisit the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in June. This is the chance to include the TALENT Act (S.512), and gifted students, in those discussions.
The best way to ensure success for the TALENT Act is to have more Senators cosponsor the bill, and it’s your calls and emails that will make the difference. Please contact your two Senators as soon as possible and urge them to support gifted students by becoming a cosponsor of S.512.
Contact information for Washington’s senators can be found at http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm?State=WA
You can send your emails from this page.
The TALENT Act focuses on four areas: 1) Requires that states report on students who have performed at advanced levels on state tests and to disaggregate the data by subpopulations. The data is already available; it is a matter of making it public and increasing awareness of how states educate their gifted students, including those from poverty, 2) Requires professional development in identifying and serving high-potential and high-achieving students to teachers and other school personnel through the Higher Education Act, 3) Allows Title I funds (provided to schools serving low-income populations) and funds from the Rural Education Achievement Program to be used for teacher training in gifted education pedagogy. This will help address the frightening gap between how different income and racial groups of students perform at advanced academic levels, and, 4) Continues research and dissemination of information on how high-ability children learn and how they are best taught.
For more on the TALENT Act, go to http://www.nagc.org/index.aspx?id=7804
If you are looking for summer enrichment activities for your gifted student, here are two opportunities from The Seabury School. Provision of this information does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation.
Time is running out to get the HCP funding formula changed. The last bill alive is HB 2051, which was heard in the House Appropriations Committee this morning. Because of the short notice given on this bill HCP advocates were not able to testify. We need you to flood the House Appropriations Committee with messages before the executive session tomorrow (April 23) at 10:00am. So please get your emails and hot line messages in before then.
We oppose Section 3(10)( c) of HB 2051 for Highly Capable Program funding. The Legislature asked OSPI and the State Gifted Advisory in 2010 to define what constitutes a basic education program for Highly Capable students. These recommendations, including an appropriate state-level funding structure, were sent to the Quality Education Council which has three times adopted them and sent them to the Legislature.
Yet, Highly Capable is the only basic education program that has not received increased funding in the $1.3 billion McCleary appropriations proposals before the Legislature.
Highly Capable Programs are an integral part of basic education which means Highly Capable students as a class are entitled to a basic education. A basic education no matter what district they attend. Students who are sometimes identified as behavior problems in elementary school or who might become drop outs in middle and high school are often unidentified gifted students whose needs have not been assessed and addressed. Gifted students in small, rural, and high poverty school districts are entitled to the same opportunities for a basic education as those in urban and wealthy districts. Current funding levels do not provide this opportunity. Requiring parents of Highly Capable students to lobby their school board to ensure access to a basic education in NOT equitable, yet that is what the current level of state funding requires them to do.
Ask legislators to please fund Highly Capable Programs at the 5% of FTE level and at the hours recommended by the QEC. Providing Highly Capable Students a basic education is good for both the students and the State.
Please contact the members of the House Appropriations Committee as soon as possible. Use any of the information provided above to formulate your message. A list of committee members follows. Because using the Legislature’s email service requires you be a resident of the district, you will need to email each member separately. The format for names is FirstName.LastName@leg.wa.gov. It may be easier to use the Legislative Hotline: 1.800.562.6000.
If you do so, be sure to write out your message before placing the call. Operators take down your message verbatim and send it on to the legislators so having it written out before you begin ensures your message is clear and gets to the legislators as you composed it.
Ross Hunter, Chair
Timm Ormsby, Vice Chair
Gary Alexander, Ranking Minority Member
Bruce Chandler
J.T. Wilcox
Vincent Buys
Reuven Carlyle
Eileen Cody
Cathy Dahlquist
Hans Dunshee
Susan Fagan
Tami Green
Kathy Haigh
Larry Haler
Paul Harris
Zack Hudgins
Sam Hunt
Laurie Jinkins
Ruth Kagi
Marcie Maxwell
Dawn Morrell
Kevin Parker
Jamie Pedersen
Eric Pettigrew
Liz Pike
Charles Ross
Joe Schmick
Larry Seaquist
Pat Sullivan
David Taylor
Also, our Facebook and Blog pages have the committee members names as link in your email program. Will save you the effort of entering all of them yourself.
http://www.facebook.com/wagifted
http://wcge.wordpress.com
We really need you to make this effort!!!!
This may well be our last chance to influence the budget this session. Please contact the above legislators before 10:00am Tuesday morning!
Thank you for your advocacy for and support of our Highly Capable students.
Still no movement on the budget in Olympia. To summarize, maintenance level funding for FYs 2014 and 2015 has been calculated to be $19,083,000. The various proposals from the Governor and the Legislature hover around that number, with none being less than that amount. As soon as we hear anything substantive, we will let you know.
Meanwhile, our major goal of enactment of the revised Washington Administrative Code (WAC) for the Highly Capable Program has been accomplished and the new WACs approved and published. They are available here. These are the rules with which your local district must comply in implementing Highly Capable as part of Basic Education.
If you are interested in how OSPI will interpret and enforce the new WAC, there are two webinars you can participate in. I’ve copied this from a forwarded email so if the links don’t work, go here to sign up.
Find out what you need to know about the changes to WAC 392-170—Special Service Program—Highly Capable Students—background information for why the changes were made, overview of new and repealed sections of the WAC, and details about amendments to specific sections which are consistent with the RCW 28A.185—Highly Capable Students, effective September 2011, which finds that for highly capable students, access to accelerated learning and enhanced instruction is access to a basic education.
Register for a session now by clicking a date below:
Wed, May 1, 2013 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM PDT
Wed, May 1, 2013 2:45 PM – 4:15 PM PDT
Once registered you will receive an email confirming your registration with information you need to join the Webinar.
Direct questions to Kristina Johnstone, Highly Capable Program Supervisor, at kristina.johnstone@k12.wa.us or (360) 725-4991.
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.
Of interest to all Highly Capable advocates is what the budget proposals will provide for HCP funding. As part of basic education, costs of a classroom, utilities, teachers, administration, transportation, etc are covered under basic education funding. The considerable costs of identification, professional development, special curriculum and textbooks are covered by the supplemental HCP funding provided by the funding formula.
Everything on the budget is happening AFTER Gifted Education Day. The Revenue Forecast Council releases its quarterly revenue forecast on March 20th. This lets the Governor and Legislators know how much revenue the state expects to have this fiscal year.
It is the Senate’s turn to put out a budget first this year and the Senate Majority Coalition Caucus plans to present their budget proposal the week of the 25th and the House Democratic Caucus shortly thereafter. At some point Governor Inslee is expected to propose either a budget or an outline of spending priorities – which is not clear from news reports.
The current biennial budget provides $8,759,000 for FY 2012 and $8,842,000 for FY 2013 for HCP, a total of $17,601,000. The last budget prior to inclusion in basic education provided $17,993,000 for the biennium.
Governor Gregoire’s last budget proposal called for $9,472,000 for FY 2012 and $9,594,000, a total of $19,268,000; approximately a 9% increase. Since the HCPTWG and QEC Recommendations (see next paragraph) call for a new funding formula which we estimate as yielding about $45,000,000 per fiscal year, it is clear that no “real and measurable progress toward achieving full compliance” has been made toward full and ample funding as part of basic education.
McCleary calls for compliance by 2018, so the Legislature has a long way to go to reach this goal for Highly Capable Programs. We strongly suggest that it begin with this budget, enacting a new formula based on 5% of students, in a class size of 15, 6.5 hours for grades K-6 and 3.1 hours for grades 7-12.
Legislators are talking about an additional $900 billion to $1.6 billion for basic education. Surely they can find an extra $45 million for HCP!
We have been attempting to get HB 1560 amended to provide for a new formula, with little visible progress to date.
Last week we sent you a draft of a proposed resolution in the Legislature. This week we are pleased to send you a copy of the actual resolution, co-sponsored by 47 of 49 Senators. It is a very strong statement of support for gifted education but we should take it cautiously – many may have co-sponsored as a professional courtesy without reading it carefully and becoming aware of its implications. Different versions of this Resolution are circulating in the House and as a Proclamation from the Governor.
If the sponsors really believe what the resolution states, then they should immediately vote to implement the recommendations of the Highly Capable Program Technical Working Group as endorsed by the Quality Education Council. They should vote a more adequate and equitable funding formula to enable these programs to reach more students and help close the opportunity gap. They should substantially increase Highly Capable Program funding in the upcoming biennial budget and reach full and ample funding by 2018.
So come down to Olympia on March 19th and talk to your Legislators about the need for and value of Highly Capable Programs to both the student and the state; the requirements of the McCleary Decision for full and ample funding; and the recommendations of the HCPTWG and the QEC.
Before you do so, take a close look at the power point from NEWS, the plaintiffs in McCleary, presented March 10, http://waschoolexcellence.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/McCleary-presentation-3-10-13.pdf. The Coalition is a member of NEWS.
Be ready to push harder on the budget if the various budget proposals don’t “do right” for Highly Capable Programs when they come out. We will let you know if such action is necessary.
To end the State’s violation of Washington children’s constitutional rights by 2018, each State budget must:RECENT ACTIVITIES UPDATED
You haven’t heard from us recently as everything we have been doing in advocating for Highly Capable Programs has been pretty much “behind the scenes.” We are conferring and negotiating with key legislators regarding HB 1560, which purports to enact the recommendations of the Quality Education Council for the HC program. And the QEC recommendations pretty much are those of the Highly Capable Program Technical Working Group. Unfortunately, only a small part of the two sets of recommendations is contained in this bill and we are working as hard as we can to get the full recommendations for identification, services and funding as an amendment to the pending bill. If we are successful in getting a sponsor for our proposed amendment, we may be contacting you asking that you get in touch with your representatives and ask them to vote for the amendment. It all depends on how these touchy negotiations go….
Attached as a pdf file is the fact sheet we are using in our conversations with legislators. It attempts to distill pages and pages of material into a single page fact sheet. Because key Legislators seem to be fixated on issues of equity and the opportunity gap and not on the needs of our gifted students, we have focused our efforts on things which interest them.
GIFTED EDUCATION DAY, MARCH 19
Preparations for Gifted Education Day continue, now that I am back from vacation. We are looking forward to large student contingents from Edmonds and Puyallup as well as smaller groups from other districts. We have a full line-up of speakers. Please be in the Columbia Room no later than 9:10 so we can start our program and finish on time for you to meet with your legislators, with whom you have already made appointments – we trust you have made appointments. If not, do so immediately, please.
We have a Proclamation of Gifted Education Day from the Governor and expect passage of Resolutions in both houses for both Gifted Education Day, March 19, and Gifted Education Week, March 17-23. The exact wording of these three documents may vary slightly, but attached is the text of the Senate Resolution as a pdf file. The Resolutions are being sponsored by new “friends” of gifted education – we have had a core group of faithful Legislator friends for several years now and the group is expanding with these new members: Rep. Marcie Maxwell in the House and Senator Ann Rivers in the Senate. We welcome their support!
We need as large a turn out on March 19th as we can muster to support our efforts with Legislators to get HB 1560 amended as we suggest. Please come to Olympia and support us. If you can’t come to Olympia, contact your Legislators during the week of the 18th and express your support for Highly Capable Programs and tell your Legislators about how important they are for both students and the state. Information on contacting your Legislators is in the Gifted Education Day Handbook for 2013.
In Olympia, we will provide name tags, note paper and envelopes, note cards, and cards with contact information on them for you. Regulations on handing out materials in the Columbia Room keep us from providing printed materials there so print out whatever you need and bring it with you.
1. Our overriding goal this session is to maintain our place in basic education and to obtain full funding. Governor Gregoire was required by the Constitution to submit a budget proposal. Hearings are being held on it even though it is basically DOA. More budget proposals will be forthcoming from Governor Inslee and from the two houses.
Here is a direct quote from the testimony of Ramona Hattendorf of the state PTA regarding former Governor Gregoire’s budget proposal for the coming biennium.
“The legal obligation to Washington children, however, extends beyond early learning and the primary grades. The state laid out its intent to fully fund basic education with passage in 2009 of ESHB 2261. Yet four years later, this state still doesn’t pay for a basic six-period day, and our 24-credit career- and college-ready graduation requirements are on hold indefinitely. This affects every child in the state. Students aren’t reaching their academic potential because schools can’t consistently give them access to the education they need.
“Struggling readers continue to struggle in ineffective programs. Too many of our K-3 teachers and principals do not understand the science behind reading, do not recognize the indicators for dyslexia or other reading disabilities, do not understand the importance and relevance of phonological screening in the K-3 years. Middle-schoolers ready for algebra continue to be denied access, simply because there aren’t enough slots for them.
“Our schools are stressed. State funding doesn’t cover the operational costs of what most community members assume is a standard six-period day that can offer a basic college prep program, career and technical classes, arts and physical education. All of our large, successful school districts have foundations, booster clubs and PTAs raising significant private funds to cover basics like curriculum and staffing. State funds to support school improvement plans are nonexistent.
“For this reason, Washington State PTA is concerned that the budget proposed by Gov. Gregoire doesn’t go far enough to address the McCleary court decision. The minimum components of basic education, as defined in law, are not being met and there is no schedule for full implementation.
“Minimum components of basic education, as described in RCW 28A.150.220, include:
▪ Instruction in the essential academic learning requirements and accompanying state assessment system (The new “Common Core” standards in math and English language arts fall under this category, along with other learning standards)
▪ Instruction that “provides students the opportunity to complete twenty-four credits for high school graduation, subject to a phased-in implementation of the twenty-four credits as established by the legislature.”
▪ Supplemental instruction and services for underachieving students through the learning assistance program
▪ Supplemental instruction and services for English Language Learner students through the transitional bilingual instruction program
▪ The opportunity for an appropriate education at public expense for all eligible students with disabilities
▪ Programs for highly capable students
“Education must be prioritized in the budget and legal commitments met. Fully implementing and funding 2009’s HB 2261 will get you there. This bill extends well beyond K-3 class size and full-day kindergarten and has significant components for grades 4 to 12 at all schools.”
We couldn’t have said it better ourselves! Our thanks to the PTA for their support.
1. A lot has been going on in Olympia. The state Legislature appears to have organized itself and committee assignments have been made. Because there are so many newly elected Legislators and so many moving from the house to the senate, the committee make up is quite different this session. For the first weeks, committees are going into learning mode – getting up to speed on basic background, recent reports on various studies they have authorized, etc. and very little actual legislating.
If you are interested in which Legislators sit on which committees, go to http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rosters/CommitteeMembersByCommittee.aspx and search by committee or to http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rosters/CommitteeMembersByMember.aspx and search by name.
2. You might find state web sites in a state of flux as all the changes are made over the coming days so be patient. www.governor.wa.gov now shows Jay Inslee. The “Find my Legislator” page now shows the current (new) districts.
3. A report of great interest to gifted advocates has been submitted to the Legislature and is wending its way through hearings. Further action (including filing of specific bills to implement the recommendations) is not yet known. The Quality Education Council presented its Report to the Legislature on January 15th. The QEC is the body designated by the Legislature to organize the implementation of educational reform based on bills passed in recent sessions. This report is available at http://www.k12.wa.us/LegisGov/2013documents/QEC2013Report.pdf
The three state-wide gifted organizations have written to all legislators strongly supporting the QEC recommendations on the Highly Capable Program – pasted into the next paragraph – on page 14. We urge you to make this support the basis of your contacts with your Legislators in the coming months. We want to retain our status as a part of basic education and, if possible in this session, obtain a new funding formula. Input from advocates such as you can take us a long way toward achieving these goals.
Priority Area 3: Close the Opportunity Gap for Disadvantaged Students and Students of Color
5. The Legislature should support the strengthening of the Highly Capable Program to ensure that all students have equal access to it, consistent with the recommendations of the Highly Capable Program Technical Working Group**:
a. The Legislature should adopt a new and uniform definition of Highly Capable Program students, as provided in the Technical Working Group report to the Legislature; and
b. The Legislature should direct OSPI to create a common and consistent identification process for Highly Capable Program students.
c. The Legislature should direct OSPI to create rules that allow flexibility for small school districts to implement highly capable programs until the full funding recommendations* of the QEC can be adopted by the Legislature.
*“Full funding recommendations of the QEC” can be found on page 15 of the August 13, 2012 meeting materials, Past QEC recommendations http://www.k12.wa.us/QEC/PastMeetings/default.aspx
**The Highly Capable Workgroup report can be found online at: http://www.k12.wa.us/HighlyCapable/Workgroup/default.aspx in the right sidebar.
4. I hope that lots and lots of you are making plans to be in Olympia on Gifted Education Day, March 19, 2013. We’ll be in the Columbia Room of the Legislative Building beginning at about 8:30. Program is scheduled for 9:00 to 10:30 and then you are free to attend to the most important business of the day, talking with your legislators and educating them on the unique educational needs of highly capable students and why such programs benefit not only the individual student but society as a whole.
We’ll be providing you with a lot of material you can use in formulating your message – it is just a bit late in getting sent out due to some unexpected (aren’t they always unexpected) health problems of your correspondent and her husband taking up a lot of time just now and the big project contacting every individual legislator (147) with the statement of support of the QEC recommendations. 147 personalized emails takes a lot of time and effort!
5. This week the Coalition formally became a member of the Network For Excellence in Washington Schools (NEWS) the lead appellant in the McCleary case. The decision in that case calls for ample (full) funding of basic education and since HCP is a part of basic education (and is not amply funded) it seemed a good match for us to be part of the appellant group.
P.S. We’re up to 645 supporters on Facebook. We need to reach 750 before GEDay so if you are a user of Facebook, please “like” us now!
A number of Legislative positions (in the 17th and, possibly, the 47th Legislative districts) will not be decided until recounts are concluded in early December. Otherwise the makeup of the Legislature is pretty well settled. If you want to check it out, go to www.vote.wa.gov and click on election returns.
The Quality Education Council (QEC) and the Joint Task Force on Education Funding (JTF) are getting close to finalizing their recommendations to the Legislature. The Coalition has made presentations to both groups at their public meetings and submitted a position statement to them on Highly Capable funding.
Based on the most recent revenue forecast, it appears there will not be sufficient revenue to fund the increase in basic education funding necessary to meet the requirements of the McCleary decision. Governor Gregoire will be submitting her proposed budget in December (as required by law) and Governor-elect Inslee will submit his proposal after he takes office in January. No doubt there will be several budget proposals floated in the Legislature from both houses and both parties. All of this is going to make for a most difficult session. There are unverified rumors that some parts of basic education may be suspended for a year or two. I do not know if this is possible; the Coalition will do its best to keep you informed as to what is happening and to let you know when you need to contact your Legislators about HCP funding or other vital issues. Look for our regular messages and follow us on Facebook.
Gifted Education Day on March 19th is going to be an important piece of our advocacy efforts. Please plan to join us in Olympia. An XXL turn-out is vital to our chances to get a new, more equitable, funding formula for HCP into the budget.
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We invite you to join us at our general meeting on Friday, November 30 at the Burien Community Center, 14700 6th Avenue SW, Burien, beginning at 10 am. We will be planning our strategy for the legislative session and begin organizing for Gifted Education Day. If you live in the Puget Sound area, please join us. Everyone is welcome!
On the agenda are (1) HCP funding issues, (2) The McCleary Decision and what it means for HCP, (3) Strategy for the upcoming legislative session, (4) Reports from observers at the QEC and JTF meetings, (5) Discussion on continuing to offer the Joint Membership with WAETAG and NWGCA, (6) Planning for Gifted Education Day.
If you plan to attend, please RSVP to wagifted@earthlink.net so we know how many to plan for.
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Opportunity for Training.
The League of Education Voters is holding their 3rd advocacy training session in January. Click here for more information.
Another opportunity to learn about gifted.
The World Council for Gifted and Talented Children will hold its biennial 2013 conference August 10 through 14, 2013 in Louisville Kentucky. For more information, go to http://www.worldgifted2013.org/