Where is this coming from? I cannot imagine anyone in the field of gifted education putting the approval of a gifted education plan in the hands of local school boards. I have retired after 17 years in gifted education in Virginia and am at a loss to understand how the state feels these changes advance the plight of our best and brightest in the Commonwealth. Where is the guarantee that ALL bright students in Virginia will have the same possibilities for advanced curricula when there is no central authority for compliance of the plan? Change theory acknowledges it takes 5 years to see a measurable effect of a plan, yet the state asks us to develop a plan each year before we can see the fruits of our  considerable labor produce results. I am profoundly disappointed in Virginia where I was once proud to show others at national conferences how the Commonwealth of Virginia was committed to the education of our gifted.