I believe that the current regulations for gifted education should not be changed.    I would also hate to see the high standards that Virginia now holds be changed, because many school systems might let gifted education drop, given the current financial strains, in exchange for other programs. By not having a localities plan monitored by the state department, this could easily happen.  Also, dropping a long range 5 year plan is not a good idea.  This plan should be reviewed and "tweeked" on a yearly basis to see if the plan is succeeding, but it would be extremely limited in focus if just made for one year at a time, and there would not be much to strive for in the long range.  I ask that you please reconsider these changes.