The gifted funding model as proposed is flawed and needs to be fixed. It is critical to the success of our children and out state that this critical error is corrected so that gifted operating standards, which are the result of exhaustive studies and research-based initiatives, are fully funded in the budget proposed for the State.
We know that:
Advocacy for gifted students is on the rise as ODE performance data proves high ability children are suffering in the regular classroom and are not meeting their potential either as successful students or as productive adults (see http://www.oagc.com/files/giftedmathperformance.pdf).
More than 20 percent of high school dropouts test in the gifted range. And there is a school district in Ohio where 40 percent of the high school dropouts test in the gifted range. These children drop out because they lose interest in the lock-step progression through a public education system that neither teaches them nor recognizes or nurtures their talents. Our schools do not understand them or lack the training they need to have the ability to teach them. The crime is that we know this and we have the solution at our fingertips and adequate resources - we simply continue to implement (ODE Acceleration Policy) or fund it properly.
In District 34 alone there are more than 150 active members of a parent support group founded less than 3 years ago to help parents of gifted find resources for their children. The new budget eliminates the few public resources these people have depended upon that are critical to the success of high ability students in the State of Ohio (particularly the Summer honors program).
Many of the education needs of gifted children in the State of Ohio have been addressed by the ODE through various rules (Ohio Administrative Code 3301-51-15 Gifted Rule) and policy recommendations (Academic Acceleration for Advanced Learners and the Proposed Plan for Credit Flexibility) - yet these exhaustive research-based rules and policies are meaningless without the funding attached to make them a reality.
The budget proposed amount of $25 per pupil, once multiplied by the state share of approximately 52%, effectively cuts gifted education funding in half by the time it reaches the districts. Funding for identification has been eliminated altogether - amounting to another decrease in funding to the tune of $ 4.8 million. Well regarded programs, like the Summer Honors Institute, have simply been eliminated leaving no options for high ability high schoolers.
At a time when our citizens are desperately in need of hope for our future we are proposing cutting the funding that would directly effect the outcomes for our brightest students in the most negative way possible. Please explain to me how cutting gifted programming funds, calling the funds you do offer "enrichment," and not tying any direct funding to high ability interventions is going to help this underserved population? Lengthening the school day and refusing to meet the needs of high ability students will simply prolong the agony of seat time in the classroom for the ablest learners. Less funding for testing means fewer identifications. Giftedness cuts across all demographics - it is not a privilege but a cognitive learning difference which requires a different learning style and few teachers have the training to recognize or serve high ability students.