Gifted education in sights

Last time Florida lawmakers tried to change funding for gifted education, the advocates came out of the woodwork to beat the proposed bill into submission. This time around, the folks who want to alter the system are reaching out to the parent groups early.

Rep. John Legg (left), vice chairman of the House K-12 Education Committee, is working with Senate Education Appropriations chairman Steve Wise to craft a bill that would hold school districts to a higher standard when it comes to gifted programs. Their proposal, still in drafting, would force districts to keep track of how they are spending money for gifted education. Right now, it's just a chunk of special education funding, and most districts can't (won't?) say how the cash gets divided, or which academic programs get the money.

Too often, Legg said, parents will say their children are classified as "gifted," but the district gives them maybe an hour a week of pull-out attention, yet the districts get full funding for gifted education.

"I'm saying, they better get the programs you're saying they get, because we're paying for them," Legg told the Gradebook.

The bill also would require screening of all students to determine whether they are gifted, rather than wait for a parent or teacher to ask for the testing.

Already, parent groups have seen a version and made recommendations about training for teachers of gifted kids, sending the bill writers back to their computers. Legg said he hopes to file a working draft in November, and then hold lots of public hearings, to ensure what ultimately emerges is something most people who care can live with. But one thing is clear, he said: "The national trend is that we've dropped the ball when it comes to our gifted kids."

And the time, it seems, has come to change that.

Comments

Wise was wrong. It was the DOE that created the problem last year. Freezing funding increases did not help students. The policy was to help the adults in policy making in Tallahassee who are hundreds of miles from serving kids.

The growth in gifted last year was centered in just a couple of districts that had been threatened by the DOE for not meeting the Florida law requirement to provide a full spectrum of services in K-12. These districts did not create paperwork to generate money. They spent a whole year with citizen groups including gifted parents to improve services. With the current funding method for the ESE guaranteed allocation, the districts actually fronted the money for the growth during 2006-2007. When it came time for the Legislature to fund the requirement that it had in the law for services, they balked.

That is the real story. Most of the Legislators did not know what was really the motive. Wise thought that S. Florida had found a way to steal money from N. Florida. In reality, the DOE created the problem by making certain district expand programs for gifted in high school.

Wise was right last year Districts were hosing the Legislature with high school gifted increases. They weren't spending more money on services, but rather found a loop hole to earn more dollars for providing minimal paperwork services to students. A review of how much money is actually being spent on gifted students would show they are being shortchanged. The problem is districts don't have much choice because they don't receive enough funding to provide the required services to children with severe disabilities. Gifted education currently subsidizes the costly special education services that are required by law. If the good representative and Senator want to help gifted kids, they need to first take a real look at how all special education services are funded and give districts enough resources to adequately fund all services to students with special needs.

[Goader]

Quote of month, maybe the year!

"If you want to go to the moon, don't just hire more accountants and bookkeepers."

In the meantime, can we find a way to allow enough time for teachers to relieve themselves?

Read about it in a post titled, "Urine My Thoughts" at http://es-pressco.com/blog/?p=240

I believe that Rep. Legg wants to help, but he needs to get a much better understanding of how the formula works before he starts making quotes suggesting that the problem with gifted is in the districts and not with State policy.

Accounting for every penny will not get more services for students. It will just cost more for bookkeepers and accountants.

Sen. Wise is trying to help? Last year he froze all funding for high school gifted programs saying that more money wasn't needed and that districts that were increasing high school services were just trying to "game the funding system." The message to other districts was clearly not to do anything new or to develop first rate programs for gifted students.

After the Russians put a satillite in space before the USA, there was a huge focus in this country on developing all of our citizens but especially the most talented in math and science to get back into the lead with technology. A similar INVESTMENT is needed now. If you want to go to the moon, don't just hire more accountants and bookkeepers.