The Virginia State Board of Education states in the “Annual Report on the Condition and Needs of Public Schools in Virginia,” its second objective is to eliminate the achievement gap.  The failure to prioritize the underrepresentation of low-income and minority students in gifted programs will undermine efforts to reduce the achievement gap between both low-income and minority “high-achieving” students and their more affluent and majority “high-achieving” peers.  Policymakers must utilize gifted programs to provide a pool of low-income and minority students who are both qualified and prepared to matriculate to Virginia’s elite and selective institutions of higher learning.  Diversity at Virginia’s elite and select universities is best achieved by educating and preparing low-income and minority students equitably in Virginia’s public schools so that their SAT scores, grade point averages, and rigor of coursework on evaluation are as meritorious as more wealthy and majority applicants.  It is in the state and national interest to prepare low-income and minority students to meet the business community’s demand for high skilled workers and lessen the need to recruit high skilled workers from abroad through the H2 visa program.  Virginia’s problem is not that there are too many students in its gifted education programs but that there are too few low-income and minority students.