Virginia Regulatory Town Hall View Comments

Department of Education

State Board of Education

Regulations Governing Educational Services for Gifted Students [8 VAC 20 ‑ 40]

Action	Revision of regulations school divisions must meet in their gifted education programs, K - 12
Stage	Proposed
Comment Period	Ended on 9/26/2008

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9/20/08 6:00 pm

Commenter: Stephanie Burke

Strengthen, not weaken the GT infrastructure in Virginia

As a parent of GT students, President of Parent Advocates for Gifted Education, a non-profit organization of parents and educators in Fauquier County, and as a professional engineer who works in the IT industry, I have many reasons to be concerned about the proposed roll-back of support for Gifted Education in Virginia. I recommend that the State Board of Education continue to require localities to submit their gifted program plans and results for review and that they required dedicated funding to be used for the gifted programs.

As the recent events on Wall Street clearly demonstrate, good intentions require good governance. Only external and independent review of plans, actions, and results can ensure that the Gifted Programs in Virginia continue to provide the services necessary to ensure the best education for all students. I recommend that the requirement to submit the GT plans to the State be reinstated. I also support the original 5-year long range plans instead of the proposed 1-year locally reviewed plans, in addition to the specific current year actions, to ensure that the schools are adequately investing in the long-term needs of their communities.

The five-year plan is superior to the annual plan because it supports local gifted programs efforts to implement the long term infrastructure of qualified teachers, programs and services necessary to build and sustain a successful GT program. The current peer-review process allows coordinators from different school systems to meet and see the components of other localities. Given the widely differing economies across the Commonwealth of Virginia, this process provides localities with limited resources access to best practices and programs developed by our nationally recognized school systems.

As we have also learned, regulations must be firmly and clearly stated to ensure that funds intended for a specific purposes are not allowed be diluted or redirected to other purposes. I recommend that the DoE reinstate the regulation requiring that the funds allocated for Gifted Education be committed to those programs.

In periods of slow growth and shrinking budgets, there is always pressure to resort to band-aid solutions and redirect resources from important programs. Time and again, communities which are hit hard by the changing economy struggle to attract new businesses to rebuild their employment base. “Good Schools” is universally recognized as a necessary ingredient to attract new 21^st century businesses. However, we must understand that by good schools, companies and their employees are not looking for schools with the best remedial programs, nor schools that only address the minimum standards. They look for schools that support the best as well. These communities must be supported by the State BoE, through the means of funding and regulations, to understand that investment in these programs are an investiment in their future. Without these programs, those bright and creative students will not have a reason to stay in their communities to work and raise the next generation of well-educated Virginians, but will continue the exodus of talent which only entrenches the economic stagnation in many areas of the state.

CommentID: 2343