Academic Booster Club

Last week we were proud to announce the Senate had passed legislation that for the first time included highly capable education in the definition of basic education. Late Monday night the House concurred, and on Thursday 2261 was officially sent to the Governor.

It’s easy to miss what a truly monumental change this redefinition represents. I first really became aware of the cause of highly capable education when my oldest son entered kindergarten in 2004 and didn’t become actively involved in the cause until he was selected for the QUEST Program in January of 2006. While lobbying for this change in Olympia this year I found myself sitting at a table with people who had also become active on highly capable issues when their children entered kindergarten. The difference was that many of their children were now in high school, in college, or were college graduates who had children of their own, and those children were about to enter kindergarten. One person who worked very hard with us has sons who went to high school with me. This change has been a very long time in coming. My thanks go to those advocates who have dedicated years to this effort, and to all of you. Your voices made the difference, both for our Puyallup program and for these fundamental changes at the State level.

The changes to the definition of basic education are to be phased in over a number of years. Highly capable is currently scheduled for full recognition in 2011. For the 2009 – 2010 and 2010 – 2011 budget years, highly capable is funded outside of basic education. That gap led us to work hard both for the change in the definition of basic education this year, and for inclusion in the budget until that definition took effect. The State House passed its budget a short time ago tonight, and funded highly capable at a level comparable to how it’s been funded during the last two budget years. With many programs facing severe cuts, our maintenance level funding was another significant victory for our children this year. The Senate Ways and Means Committee is scheduled to act Saturday morning at 8:00am, with the goal of completing work on the budget by Sunday. Their proposed budget was also kind to highly capable, and we are grateful to both bodies for their support.

In Puyallup, the location of the eight QUEST Regional sites was announced on Wednesday, and our parent meeting with Brian Fox, Director of Student Learning in the Puyallup School District, and Nancy Velazquez, QUEST Program Coordinator, took place on Thursday. Brian Fox left last night with a stack of questions from the over 200 parents in attendance, and continues to work on those questions and additional questions submitted through the ABC website. We’ll share those questions and his answers with you as soon as he’s completed his work. If you have questions you didn’t get to ask, or that you’ve thought of since the meeting, you can submit those questions using the form on our website in the meeting summary article.

With the growth of the program to all 22 elementary schools for the clustering potential 2nd grade classes, and the 8 QUEST Regional sites, ABC is looking for more volunteers. We are seeking to have at least one parent at each elementary school in the district to help us work with other parents on any transportation issues that the new program may create. If you’re interested, let an ABC board member know the next time you see us, or use the contact form on our website.

Our next major ABC events will be our On-Line Auction (May 11th – May 22nd) and our Spring Open House (June 4th at Maplewood Elementary). Look for more information about the auction, including your chance to donate items or suggest possible donors, shortly.

This is what was posted at www.questabc.org over the last seven days: