I have three children who benefit from the gifted program.  Their needs cannot be met in the "regular" classroom.  Not because they don't have wonderful, capable teachers, but because of the pressures teachers and schools face with the No Child Left Behind testing climate.  As a result, the standard curriculum is leaving our gifted children behind. 

The gifted program provides them with a needed respite from a curriculum that is not designed to meet the needs of gifted children.   These children need and deserve to have their rights to an appropriate education protected.

Giftedness is not something you do, it is what you are.  Do not punish these children for what they are by taking away the gifted program funding.