Thank you for this opportunity to comment on the proposed changes to the regulations governing the education of gifted students in Virginia.  As a parent of gifted students in the public schools of Virginia, I can state without hesitation that the support my children have received from their gifted education program kept them in school and kept them challenged.  It is because of this that I come forward today to address changes to state regulations that I believe will undermine gifted education in Virginia.  Specifically, taking the local plan out of the hands of the Virginia Department of Education and placing it in the hands of local school boards will allow gifted programs to wax and wane according to the desires and needs of local school boards.  At best, local boards will protect gifted students responsibly, as I believe my school board will do.  At worst, local boards will fall victim to political pressure from constituents or budgetary crunches and will weaken gifted programs into oblivion.

Regarding 8VAC20-40-70, I am baffled as to the reason for not protecting the funds for identified gifted students.  The entire clause for protected funding has been removed from the regulation.  In the absence of this regulatory language protecting the funding for gifted program services, funds could be used for other purposes which could reduce the quality of gifted programming in many school divisions. 

For these reasons, I request the following changes to the revisions:
(1) Each local school division shall submit to the Department of Education for approval a plan, developed on a five-year basis, for the education of gifted students to ensure that the regulations are being followed.

(2) State funds administered by the Department of Education for the education of gifted students shall be used only to support activities identified in the school division's plan as approved by the Board of Education.