Stay alert: It’s getting serious.

Please read this to stay informed.

In a nutshell: A committee of Texas legislators has been tasked with recommending a new way to fund public education. After a year of hearing testimony from stakeholders, yesterday, the committee released its final report. On page 26, recommendation #12 is their proposal to to eliminate $165 million of earmarked funds for gifted and talented students. They recommend putting this money into a general fund, called the Basic Allotment, that all districts receive from the state.

The report states in bold italics that the state will still require school districts to serve gifted learners — however, this is not at all reassuring! As TAGT responded in a letter, the committee provides no funds for fulfilling this requirement, and provides little accountability from the state. There is nothing in place that ensures the number of gifted students served is maintained.

And, finally, essentially, un-funding a GT allotment means the state would place the entire burden on local school boards and parents to adopt a policy for funding gifted education.

TAGT emailed its members and parent affiliates yesterday afternoon, including this statement: “The proposed recommendation to reallocate the Gifted and Talented Allotment Funds marginalizes the importance of this funding. With the state under scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Education for failing to serve students identified for special education services, this recommendation positions the state to fail to serve gifted students.”

TAGT also reminds us that these recommendations are not yet a law; they must go through the legislative process to become a bill and then a law.

Please stay informed and share your stories about why gifted education is important to your family …

Tell your story: #whyGT

SAGE is looking for YOUR personal stories about the importance of gifted education in public schools. Click here to learn more. We will post your stories on our SAGE media channels and share them with TAGT.

If you Tweet, then please tweet @GCSAGE @txgifted #whyGT #DoTheBrightThing #FundGT