Gifted Education Day 2011

We are scheduling GEDay 2011 for Friday, February 11, 2011. The 2011 Legislative session will be a long session budget year and the formulas for school funding will have changed. We have no idea of what this will mean for highly capable program funding as part of basic education so we will need a good showing on Feb. 11 to put our case for adequate funding before the Legislature.

2010 Legislative Session

Well, it is finally over! I want to summarize our actions in the Legislature this session.

1. SB 6604 originally contained a clause for highly capable funding “as funds may be available” which we felt would hamper proper funding for years to come. After our testimony this section of the bill was removed and has not reappeared in the version which passed the Legislature and has gone to the Governor for signature. We consider this a substantial victory.

2. HB 2776 for implementation of educational reform in Sept. 2011 has passed the Legislature and gone to the Governor for signature. Highly Capable Programs will become a mandated part of basic education beginning September 2011 with special supplementary funding. This will complete our victory of last year in being made part of basic education.  You must be aware however, that this does not mean more money for highly capable programs as the funding formula is based on the 2009-2010 budget appropriations.

3. SB 6696 also passed the Legislature and has gone to the Governor for signature. This bill contains the other measures needed for education reform, such as accountability for low performing schools, teacher, principal and superintendent evaluations, and several other items. It does contain directions for use of student data in these evaluations which support our work with the Data Governanace Group – see next item.

Data Governanace Working Group

The Coalition is working closely with the Data Governance Working Group on implementation of data gathering on Highly Capable Programs beginning September 2011 and with the Quality Education Council to resolve any outstanding questions about the programs. We will keep you informed of our activities.

Special Session

The Legislature returns to work on Monday to adopt a budget and tax package for 2010-2011. In the versions of the budget currently under consideration highly capable programs take only a 2% cut to $9.185 million. The funding will get us through the transition year of 2010-2011, until we become a part of basic education in Sept. 2011. This of course, could change in the negotiations that will be taking place. You may wish to contact your Legislators to support this funding. We will keep you informed.

Thank You!

Our successes in the just-concluded Legislative short session are due to the work of all of you in contacting your Legislators and in attending Gifted Education Day.   A big Thank You!

We hope you will join other advocates in Olympia on February 5 for Gifted Education Day in Washington.

Please pre-register by mailing Christine Holland or wagifted@earthlink.net  so we can have a packet of materials prepared for you. Your Welcome Packets will contain just about everything you will need for the Day.

Even if you aren’t pre-registered, come anyway. Meet old and new friends, network, energize your enthusiasm for the cause of appropriate educational opportunities for all of Washington’s gifted students.

We are anticipating a record turn-out on Friday. Come and be part of it. Only two other public events are scheduled for Friday, both between 11:00 and 12:30 (http://www.ga.wa.gov/Vistor/eventCal.htm ), so there shouldn’t be too much competition for parking spaces early in the day.

LAST MINUTE NOTES

The Coalition operates on the slimmest of budgets. To help defray the costs of Gifted Education Day, we will be accepting donations to help with the expenses. (Coffee service alone runs to about $400.) Rules for the use of capitol campus facilities prohibit us from soliciting donations on site. However, we are allowed to accept them provided they are placed in a plain white sealed envelope and handed to a Coalition representative.

New rules for the Columbia Room prohibit any displays or exhibits and the solicitation of memberships. However, we can accept memberships, again in a plain white envelope – one will be in the Welcome Packet along with membership forms.

We will continue to provide Gifted Education Day note paper and envelopes and Gifted Education Day cards which you can use to write – of course – notes to the Legislators you visit on Gifted Education Day. Or “sorry I missed you” notes to Legislators you did not see. These materials will be found in the Welcome Packet.

If you need additional notes and cards, ask at the sign-in desk where they will be available.

There will be a drop box for these notes and cards and the Coalition will hand deliver them to the Legislators to whom they are addressed. Last year we were unable to deliver several because they did not have the Legislator name on the envelope or card, so be sure you do address them with a full name.

If this is your first trip down to Olympia for Gifted Education Day, please check your Gifted Education Day Handbook 2010 for information on parking, use of the DASH shuttle, and look at the map for the most convenient entrance to Legislative Building leading to the Columbia Room.

For those bringing students, please bring some materials to keep the children occupied during down time when nothing is scheduled. To make them fit in with the purpose of the day, consider using the materials you can find at http://www.leg.wa.gov/studentspage/Pages/default.aspx. There are other activities listed down the left side that might be of interest.

SCHEDULE

Please plan to begin signing in from 8:15 on; if you have early appointments, please sign in first. We need all adults to sign in and give us your e-mail address so we can put you on our e-mail list and keep you informed of what is going on in the Legislature.

Coffee, tea, hot chocolate and hot cider will be available beginning about 8:30. There will be cookies.

The day’s program is scheduled to begin at 9:00 am. After opening remarks, Nancy Amedei will be presenting a session on effective advocacy followed at 10:00 by Gayle Pauley, representing Supt. Dorn, and Marty Brown, the Governor’s legislative director. We anticipate being done by 11:00.

We hope all of you will be able to be present for the program but if you have appointments scheduled with Legislators during that time frame, feel free to come and go as needed.

OTHER NOTES

Some of you have expressed an interest in attending committee meetings or watching the floor sessions. A preliminary schedule for the Legislature for Friday can be found at http://www.leg.wa.gov/legislature/pages/calendar.aspx.  Select “Daily;” then select “2/5/2010.” If you want to see what each committee plans to do, click on the Agenda link. Please note that both houses will be in either floor session or caucus at 10:00. Not much to choose from here for observing what goes on. All this is subject to change, of course. We will have the most current schedule available at the sign-in table.

The Columbia Room can be used as a depository for backpacks, jackets, lunches, etc. We accept no responsibility for items left there so do not leave computers, cell phones or other electronic or expensive items.

The Columbia Room is a place for you to eat lunch, meet with friends old and new, find a table to sit and write your notes to Legislators. Presently two students groups are scheduled to meet with their Legislators in the Columbia Room, one at noon and a very large group at 1:30. So be prepared to give way for seating for these groups.

Members of the Coalition leadership and other experienced advocates will be in the room throughout the day. Please consult with them if you have any questions or concerns.

If you are bringing students with you, don’t forget your camera. Photograph some good memories; share the photos with us.

We will close the Columbia Room at 2:30 and will not be responsible for any belongings still there at that time.

COME AND JOIN OUR CELEBRATION OF GIFTEDNESS!

Gifted Education Day is an excellent opportunity for families to experience our state government at work. Please plan on attending!

* Tour our beautiful state capitol!

* Meet and talk to your legislators!

* Observe the legislative process!

* Hear speakers (representatives, state director, others)!

This is a VERY important day for gifted education in the state of Washington. Legislators will be determining funding for gifted this legislative session!

For more information please contact Christine Holland at christine-holland@hotmail.com or 253-376-5909. To attend events in the Columbia Room, you must preregister.

  This message contains three parts.

1. Supplemental Budget

In her initial Supplemental Budget for 2010-2011, Governor Gregoire proposes to suspend  $7.4 million of 2010-11 highly capable funding.*

The Legislature will also propose a version of the Supplemental Budget after January 11. Gifted education has strong supporters in the Legislature and we will work closely with them on the issue of highly capable funding.

To make known your support of highly capable funding send the Governor a message through her web site http://www.governor.wa.gov/contact/default.asp  or the hot line 1.800.562.6000. 

In a situation like this, it is the sheer number of messages, not the weight of your arguments, that will count. Make your message simple: “I want you to fully fund highly capable programs in the Supplemental Budget,” or “Do not suspend highly capable program funding in the Supplemental Budget.”

After the Legislature convenes we will be requesting you to contact legislators about both the budget and the implementation of the provisions of ESHB 2261.

 2.  Gifted Education Day, February 5, 2010

We need as many people in Olympia on Feb. 5 as is humanly possible, prepared to talk to legislators about the needs of gifted students. Organizing has begun and more information will be sent out soon. Please prepare to join us in Olympia!

3.  Coalition Meeting

The Coalition will meet on January 7 at the Kohlwes Administration Center, Renton School District. to work out the details of Gifted Education Day and other items. Mark your calendar and please plan to join us. A reminder and agenda will be sent out closer to the date.

*To see the actual budget proposal, go to http://www.ofm.wa.gov/budget10/bills/default.asp and select operating 2010 supplemental. Highly capable is on page 168.

I’m thankful for the QUEST and PAGE programs, and for the teachers and administrators who worked so hard to not only save the program in the face of last year’s tremendous budget challenges, but who found a way to expand the program so that more students are being served this year than ever before.  I’m thankful those same people are watching out for our program this year as those financial challenges remain.  I’m thankful for the teachers who accepted the challenge of educating our gifted students, and who not only encourage our students to go beyond what is expected of them, but who live that lesson themselves.  I’m thankful those teachers have invited me into their classrooms, and have partnered with my family to develop the best educational plan for my children.

I’m thankful for the ABC Board and our volunteers, whose hard work makes all the things that ABC does possible.  I’m thankful for other gifted advocates across the state and across the country who have offered their experience and leadership freely and without condition.  Many of these advocates have been actively working for the cause of highly capable education since I was the age my sons are now.  Their persistence is one of the reasons that programs like QUEST and PAGE exist at all.   I’m thankful for the legislators who last session agreed with those advocates at long last and passed a bill that included highly capable in the definition of basic education.

I’m thankful for my two QUEST students, and for their younger brother who sees his big brothers go off to school in the morning and thinks that he’s ready to go to the brothers’ school now, too.  I’m thankful for all the questions they ask, sometimes one after another, as they work through ideas or concepts that are new to them.  I’m thankful for all the times they emptied their bookshelves, asking me to read just one more story.  I’m even thankful for those times when they stopped me to remind me that I’d skipped a page, or to tell me that wasn’t how the story goes.  I’m thankful for the look of pride on their faces when they exceed their own expectations and complete a task they didn’t know they were capable of completing.  I’m thankful for your QUEST students, and for the relationships they’ve built with my sons.

I’m thankful for my wife, who understands when I tell her that I have a stack of work to do for ABC, or a list of legislators to contact, or that I have to go to State Capitol the next day to talk to anyone who will listen about the cause of gifted education.  I’m thankful for the encouragement she provides me, and for allowing me the freedom to be an active part of this community. 

I’m thankful to be able to be an advocate for your children, and for the immeasurable rewards I receive when I see that the work that I’ve been some small part of has touched their lives and given them opportunities that they might otherwise not have had.

The Washington Coalition for Gifted Education will be encouraging highly capable students from all across the state to write about the impact that gifted programs have had on their lives.  Take a few minutes to let our policy makers know that you value their support of our students.  Encourage your highly capable student to write about what they are thankful for, and share their message with your legislators in Olympia, and with the members of the school board here in Puyallup.  Our representatives hear from adults all the time.  A hand written message from a student has a powerful effect.

The reform bill that was passed, ESHB 2261, created a Quality Education Council (QEC) to turn the promises of 2261 into a plan for implementation.  WCGE will monitor the progress of the QEC, and will continue to act as a voice for highly capable students in Washington State.  ABC will work with the Coalition, and with the members of the QEC, to help our gifted and talented students.

We are fortunate to have former Puyallup School Board Member and current 25th District Representative Bruce Dammeier on the QEC, along with a number of other legislators who were important voices in support of highly capable students during the debate over 2261 last session. We were glad to have been able to work with these legislators last session, and look forward to continuing our relationships this year and beyond.

If you’re interested, the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction is maintaining a website with notes on the progress of the QEC.  The WCGE and ABC will work to ensure any key news from the QEC gets passed along to you through the ABC website.  The WCGE has also provided an excellent summary of their purpose and goals for the implementation of 2261 that you can view here.

Cue the Fireworks!
Break Out the Banners!

ESHB 2261 passed the House Monday night and the Governor has committed to signing it. 2261 is not a perfect bill – it is a work in progress – but for gifted advocates it is what we have long sought.

Beginning September 2011, Highly Capable programs will be mandated as an integral part of basic education. The bill states, “The legislature finds that, for highly capable students, access to accelerated learning and enhanced instruction is access to a basic education.” As we have been telling them all along. Details on what the bill states in full for gifted to follow after the Governor signs it.

If your legislator(s) in either house voted Yes, please send them a thank you message.  In Puyallup, thanks should go to Rep. Morrell, Rep. Dammeier, and Sen. Kastama for their important yes votes.

House roll call on the bill was:

ESHB 2261
State’s education system
House vote on Final Passage as Amended by the Senate
4/20/2009

Yeas: 67   Nays: 31   Absent: 0   Excused: 0

Voting Yea: Representatives Anderson, Angel, Armstrong, Blake, Carlyle, Clibborn, Cody, Condotta, Dammeier, Darneille, Dickerson, Driscoll, Eddy, Ericks, Ericksen, Finn, Flannigan, Goodman, Grant-Herriot, Haigh, Haler, Herrera, Hinkle, Hudgins, Hunter, Hurst, Jacks, Kagi, Kelley, Kenney, Kessler, Kirby, Liias, Linville, Maxwell, McCoy, Miloscia, Moeller, Morrell, Morris, Nelson, O’Brien, Ormsby, Orwall, Parker, Pedersen, Pettigrew, Priest, Probst, Quall, Roach, Roberts, Rodne, Rolfes, Santos, Simpson, Smith, Springer, Sullivan, Takko, Upthegrove, Wallace, Walsh, Warnick, White, Wood, and Mr. Speaker

Voting Nay: Representatives Alexander, Appleton, Bailey, Campbell, Chandler, Chase, Conway, Cox, Crouse, DeBolt, Dunshee, Green, Hasegawa, Hope, Hunt, Johnson, Klippert, Kretz, Kristiansen, McCune, Orcutt, Pearson, Ross, Schmick, Seaquist, Sells, Shea, Short, Taylor, Van De Wege, and Williams

Senate roll call on the bill was:

State’s education system
Senate vote on Final Passage as Amended by the Senate
4/16/2009

Yeas: 26   Nays: 23   Absent: 0   Excused: 0

Voting Yea: Senators Berkey, Brown, Eide, Fairley, Franklin, Fraser, Hargrove, Hatfield, Haugen, Hobbs, Jarrett, Kastama, Keiser, Kline, Kohl-Welles, McAuliffe, McDermott, Murray, Oemig, Prentice, Ranker, Regala, Roach, Rockefeller, Shin, and Tom

Voting Nay: Senators Becker, Benton, Brandland, Carrell, Delvin, Hewitt, Holmquist, Honeyford, Jacobsen, Kauffman, Kilmer, King, Marr, McCaslin, Morton, Parlette, Pflug, Pridemore, Schoesler, Sheldon, Stevens, Swecker, and Zarelli

During this long enterprise, the Coalition has depended on many, many correspondents and web sites for information and discussion. They are too many to mention by name so a general Thank You and Well Done from us will have to suffice.

Sound the Trumpets For One Last Charge!

Not to rain on our parade BUT we still need to get a 2009-2011 budget allocation for Highly Capable programs. So we ask for one last BIG effort. Please contact your Legislators to support the funding for Highly Capable Programs as set out in Section 511 of the budget proposals.   Both houses had included Highly Capable Programs in their proposed budgets, but we need to ensure they’re included in the final versions.

In addition, we need to ask Representatives in the House to amend their proposal to add $170,000 per year for Centrum as provided for in the Senate and Governor’s budget proposals and ask Senators to hold the line for gifted funding. This message should go to all Legislators, not just those we are thanking for the passage of 2261.

Please excuse the triumphalist nature of this message but we couldn’t resist.

A 21 gun salute to you all!

Education reform legislation appears stalled in the Legislature.

Legislators tell us they are not hearing from enough constituents about education reform.

In order to move education reform through the Legislature before the end of session, they need to hear from more individuals in support of the original ESHB 2261 as passed by the House (not the amended version now in the Senate!).

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO SPEED MATTERS ALONG?

We’ll make it easy for you.

Print this pdf file.

Below the text sign your name and put your address. Feel free to add your own comments.

Flip it over, fold in half and TAPE IT CLOSED (Post Office regulations).

Address a copy to each of your Legislators.  The Puyallup School District crosses several district boundaries, so Carson Elementary families and Fruitland Elementary families may have different representatives.  To make sure you send your message to the right people, please use http://apps.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/Default.aspx to get the names and addresses.

Put your return address up in the left corner.

BE SURE TO PUT A 42¢ STAMP ON IT and drop it in the mail.

Forward this message to five of your friends who do not receive Coalition emails and ask them to do the same.

DO IT TODAY!

This message has been sent to you by The Washington Coalition For Gifted Education. Comments or questions can be sent to wagifted@earthlink.net or barbaragmaurer@yahoo.com. If you wish to have your name added to our mailing list, send a notice to wagifted@earthlink.net.