Under no circumstances should the "Propsed Revision of Gifted Program Regulations" be made. If these revisions  are implemented, gifted education in Virginia will take many steps backward in meeting the needs of gifted and talented students. The Commonwealth should be looking for opportunities to increase, not decrease, support of this student population.

Leadership in the area of gifted and talented education must come from the state level to be sure that clear, uniform and high standards are met throughtout. Left to their own, local school boards will rush to the least amount of programming possible and there will be a patchwork of disconnected and uncoordinated programs statewide.

I appreciate the value to local school control, but the Commonwealth needs to set the bar high for educating our brightest students and then hold each locality to task for meeting this need.