Thank you for your support of ABC and our QUEST and PAGE students.  This has been a critical year for advocates for highly capable learners in Washington, and your involvement and support has made the difference for our kids.

Two proposals from the Governor would eliminate all Highly Capable Program (HCP) funding for the 2011 – 2013 budget. Meanwhile, the Governor has proposed increasing funds for other education programs during 2011-13. We’re asking the Legislature for equal treatment: Education programs must be funded equitably and proportionally. These are basic education dollars for highly capable students and programs. The mistaken perception that gifted kids are all upper-class, white, hardship-free, and disability-free has created an image hurdle for us in the Legislature. If your family’s story can balance any piece of that image, please include it!

We urge you to contact your legislators by Friday, February 11 – Gifted Education Day in Olympia. Two sample letters are below.

Remember to address emails, sign your name, and add your child’s story.

Please contact:

1. Your own legislators. Find them here: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/Default.aspx
2. Senator Ed Murray, Chair of the Senate Ways & Means Committee: murray.edward@leg.wa.gov
3. Senator Rosemary McAuliffe, chair of the Senate Early Learning & K-12 Committee. mcauliffe.rosemary@leg.wa.gov
4. Jill Satran, the Governor’s deputy chief of staff. We need to push back on the Governor!jill.satran@gov.wa.gov

Thank you! Your efforts to save HCP funding for the current school year have been working – now let’s do the same for the 2011-12 and 2012-13 school years!

Sample letters:

Brief sample letter (Perfect for calling the Legislative Hotline: 1-800-562-6000.)

Dear ___________,

The Legislature must now honor its own mandate to make the highly capable program (HCP) a part of Basic Education beginning in September 2011. Currently, SB 5475 and the Governor’s proposed 2011-13 budget target HCP students for funding elimination, while protecting and increasing funding for other education programs. The Legislature must fund all students’ education programs equitably and proportionally.

Respectfully,
____________

Longer sample letter:

Dear ___________,

The Legislature must now honor its own mandate to make the highly capable program (HCP) a part of Basic Education beginning in September 2011. Currently, SB 5475 and the Governor’s proposed 2011-13 budget target highly capable students for funding elimination, while protecting and increasing funding for other education programs. The Legislature must fund all education programs equitably and proportionally. Specifically:

1. SB 5475 must be amended to make HCP part of Basic Education as scheduled: beginning in September 2011. As currently written, SB 5475 would postpone the inclusion of HCP in basic education for two school years – until 2013. However, SB 5475 would advance other reforms from last session on schedule, making other unprotected education programs part of basic education beginning in 2011.

2. The Governor’s 2011-13 budget must be amended to fund HCP students. Currently, the Governor’s proposed budget eliminates all funding for HCP students. However, the Governor’s proposed budget would increase funding for students of other unprotected education programs.

Highly capable students come from all cultures and socio-economic backgrounds, and from special education classrooms. Targeting highly capable students for funding elimination is inappropriate. It is neither equitable nor proportional. It hurts school districts that are already fiscally weak. It denies these children their right to a free and appropriate public education, and its impact is most severe on highly capable children who are middle-class, lower-middle-class, and low-income. Ttargeting highly capable students for funding elimination is the opposite of how our competitor states are handling their own budget crises. It does not put our state on a path to economic recovery – it knocks Washington further off course.

Washington must press forward with its mandated educational reforms, and must do so equitably and proportionately. This is crucial for creating a future for all our children and building economic vitality in our state.

Sincerely,

____________

Good News!

The Supplemental Budget bill ESHB 1086 passed the House on Monday and is on its way to the Senate for their consideration.

Along the way, a striker amendment which would have reduced HCP funding and cut it off as of March 1 was defeated, on a straight party line vote.

So 1086 contains the following for HCP in section 508:

State Appropriation (FY) 2011 $9,171,000, including $84,000 for FPS/DI and $159,000 for Centrum at Fort Worden. That’s for this current school year.

ESHB 1086 is being fast tracked and the Senate Ways & Means committee has already scheduled a work session for Tuesday, January 25 at 3:30.

Same Song, Next Verse

You need to do what you did for the House W&M. Send those “hundreds and hundreds of emails” to Senators on the Senate Ways & Means committee urging support for Section 508. Support for HCP is not nearly so strong in the Senate as it was in the House so contact is vital. It is particularly important that Puyallup advocates speak up. Senator Kastama is a member of the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

When contacting these Senators, you may wish to note that advocates appreciate the provision of Highly Capable Funding in ESHB 1086. It is only through maintaining the current program and proceeding to move it forward into basic education that the state can continue to open doors for students from all demographic and economic groups. Ask for their support. You can contact the members of the Senate W&M committee through this web site. Click on the name of the member (and you should contact all members) and you will get the home page from which you can send your message.

http://www.leg.wa.gov/Senate/Committees/WM/Pages/MembersStaff.aspx

If you want to see the text of 1086, go to http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=1086&year=2011 and click on Substitute Bill (WAYS 11). Information on this page is being constantly updated so if you see something different search for ESHB 1086.

Together we are stronger!

Received from the Washington Coalition for Gifted Education:

Pause, take a deep breath!

The supplemental budget bill left committee with funding restored for Highly Capable. 

By voice vote, on an amendment proposed by Rep. Hunter, nearly full funding as established in the Second Supplemental from December was restored - for details, see fact sheet below. Centrum and FPS/DI took approximately 6% cuts in their already small funding, but the funds to districts are fully restored at the rate of $401.08 per student. As of this writing, the full text of 1086 is not yet available on the web sites so our information is from the amendment as posted and from watching the webcast of the session.

Now, the bill, as amended in committee, goes to the House floor on Friday, January 21, late morning (after the caucus meetings, where floor managers make sure they have the votes they need before proceeding to a vote). You can watch on TVW if you have time.

Next step.

Limber up those fingers and get busy contacting your district Representatives today. The risk to Highly Capable funds would come from a floor amendment to either reduce the amount and/or to impose a cutoff date to funding during this school year. (A cutoff date amendment failed in committee on a party line vote.) Ask Representatives to reject either option and to support section 508 for Highly Capable as reported by the committee.

If you had already contacted your Legislators because they are members of the Ways & Means committee, say Thank You for the funding and please vote to uphold it on the floor.

Emails can be sent through the Legislature web site. Go to http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rosters/MembersByDistrict.aspx and find your district. A click on your Representatives will take you to the individual home pages from which you can send your email.

Your overwhelming response has heartened all Washington advocates of the gifted. We thank you on behalf of the highly capable students of Washington.   Chairman Hunter remarked that he had received a great deal of email about the gifted funds.  Rep. Reuven Carlyle wrote on his blog that “Parents saved the highly capable program. Hundreds and hundreds of emails to legislators from parents statewide made the difference.”

Pat yourself on the back for a job well done.

From here the supplemental will go to the Senate where we may have to again make many contacts to ensure funding. We will keep you informed.

For the most current information, follow us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/wagifted or on our blog at http://wcge.wordpress.com.

Don’t forget Gifted Education Day in Olympia on February 11. We need you there.

Fact sheet for those of you who like to dig into the details.

Approved December supplemental budget called for $9,188,000 for 2010-2011.

Governor’s and Hunter’s proposed budgets called for $2,053,000. Included slightly reduced funding for Centrum and FPS/DI ($159,000 and $84,000) and nothing for districts. (About $1.78 million was to cover payments to districts for 2009-2010 made after the start of the state’s fiscal year but during the school year. Please don’t ask why; it’s too complicated.)

Difference $ 7,135,000.

Amendment to the proposed supplementary passed the committee and calls for $7,118,000 in HCP funding.

Add to the $2.035 million and this totals $9,171 million. Add on the cut amounts (total $17,000) from Centrum and FPS/DI and we arrive back at the $9,188,000.

This is an urgent message deserving of your immediate attention.

Today the House Ways & Means committee heard proposed substitute house bill 1086 and has fast tracked it for executive session on Thursday, January 19, at 3:30 pm. This bill provides no funding to districts for Highly Capable Programs for the current school year, retroactive to September 2010.

We understand that there will need to be cuts to non-protected programs but a total elimination retroactive to September 2010 is neither proportional nor equitable.

When the House Ways & Means committee meets on Thursday, members can propose amendments to this inequitable provision. We urge you to write immediately to all members of the committee to ask that any cuts made to Highly Capable Programs be proportional to cuts to all other programs and that they not be retroactive. Retroactive cuts will be seriously disruptive to districts and the students they serve.

http://www.leg.wa.gov/House/Committees/WAYS/Pages/MembersStaff.aspx is a complete list of all members of the House Ways & Means committee. Each name constitutes a link to a legislator’s home page from which you can send an email.

If you write now, there is still time to amend this bill to provide some level of funding for Highly Capable Programs. It is easier to amend a bill in committee than when it gets to the floor so please WRITE IMMEDIATELY.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION FOR THOSE WHO WANT MORE

1. The bill and the summary document are available at http://leap.leg.wa.gov/leap/default.asp

Click on Legislative Proposals with the yellow ‘new’ button. Then click again on Legislative Proposal with the yellow ‘new’ button on the next page.

2. Here is the summary in brief. This budget proposal suspends funds to districts  for Highly Capable Programs for the entire school year 2010-2011. The $ 2 million in the bill covers some payments made in 2010 for 2009 plus funding for Centrum and Future Problem Solving/Destination ImagiNation for 2010-2011. To repeat, there is no district funding for Highly Capable Programs for the current school year.

From the bill summary, page 49:

“The state allocation for highly capable students is suspended, effective at the beginning of the 2010-11 school year. The 2010 supplemental budget allocated a rate of $401.08 per funded student, up to a maximum of 2.314 percent of each district’s full-time equivalent basic education enrollment. The remaining funding in this budget reflects program costs from the prior school year, two months of which fall in FY 2011.”

3. Based on prior biennial and supplemental budgets for the current year, funds have already been sent to districts and these funds will be recaptured by the state through cuts in basic education appropriations for the remainder of the school year.

From a power point presentation by Supt. Randy Dorn on January 6, 2011:

“If adopted by Legislature, OSPI will adjust district apportionment payments to reflect cuts.

“OSPI will transfer Highly Capable program to General Apportionment in order to then make adjustments to district apportionment.”

Here’s today’s update from the Washington Coalition for Gifted Education:

There is a face-off going on down in Olympia. The Governor v. the Legislature. The Governor v. her own Democrats. The Democrats v. the Republicans. The House v. the Senate. And caught right in the middle is funding for Highly Capable Programs in the supplemental budget.

It appears there will be a special session beginning Friday to consider the supplemental budget, provided the five parties to the discussions get their act together. We can’t wait to see if they do. We need you to take action immediately to make known your wishes regarding Highly Capable funding for 2009-2010.

The Governor made across-the-board cuts in November. That resulted in 6.3% cuts to Highly Capable Programs: $561,000 from categorical funding to districts, $11,000 from Centrum and $6,000 from FPS/DI, totaling $578,000 and leaving an appropriation of $8,628,000 for the year.

Now the Governor proposes to totally eliminate all highly capable funding retroactive to September 2010.

The House Democrats have published a detailed list of cuts which appears to include the already made across-the-board cuts the Governor made last month. Since no explanatory notes or material were released with the house democrat list, we are guessing that the cuts in it to HCP are the ones already made in the across-the-board cuts since they match to the dollar.

The House Republicans issued a statement saying “no retroactive cuts” so we are assuming that there will be no cuts to HCP such as proposed by the Governor, but since their proposal does not contain any detail, we are left up in the air as to whether or not there might be other cuts to HCP.

The detailed list of the Senate Republicans does not include any cuts to HCP.

The Senate Democrats are not yet ready to release their list of cuts but majority leader Lisa Brown did say “We must keep in mind that the education we provide to our young people represents their opportunity for their future.” Will this save HCP funds? Maybe.

Please, please, contact your legislators today and tell them you oppose any further cuts to Highly Capable Program funds. Appropriate services for highly capable learners are not a nice add-on we can fund when times are good and drop when times are lean. They are an essential component of a strong state economy, an investment in the state’s future. Some other points you can make are:

• Interrupting educational programs in mid year by defunding them as proposed by the Governor is disruptive to students and districts alike. Contracts have been signed, students are in programs, teachers are committed, some districts would need to either completely reorganize their activities or find local funds to continue them as they are now established.

• Eliminating HCPs for one year when they will become a mandated part of basic education in Sept. 2011 is counterproductive. It will cost more to reestablish these programs than will be saved by eliminating funding for the entire year.

Legislators are in Olympia this week for caucus meetings and some joint committee meetings. In order to contact them there, go to http://www.leg.wa.gov/LIC/Pages/hotline.aspx and follow the suggestions as to method. If you elect to use the Hotline, write out your short message in advance and read it to the operator so it says exactly what you want it to say. Operators will transcribe your oral message and send it on to the Legislator.

For the sake of our children, make contact today.

To get the most recent, up-to-the minute news, follow us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/wagifted or on our blog at http://wcge.wordpress.com

It is not clear exactly what the impacts of these proposed cuts would be in the Puyallup School District.  Puyallup currently receives about $160,000 a year from the State to help fund the QUEST and PAGE programs.  Overall funding from the state for education will decrease in the very near future.  That reduction will create additional pressures here in Puyallup for additional cuts and highly capable services remain on the chopping block.  Budget focus groups held by the District last year indicated a low level of support for highly capable services.  If you don’t take this opportunity to speak up for your highly capable learners, no one else will.

Contact your legislators now and tell them what the QUEST and PAGE programs have meant to your children.  Remind them that earlier this year they declared that for highly capable students, access to accelerated learning and enhanced instruction is part of a basic education.  Let them know that highly capable learners require an education that is appropriate to their needs to be able to grow and reach their full potential.  Craft your letter carefully and make it as succinct as possible.  Introduce yourself as a constituent in the first paragraph.  State your case.  Offer to provide more information and contacts if requested. Ask for a response. Thank your legislator for his/her time and attention. 

Pick up the phone or send your e-mail today.  For highly capable funding, there may not be a tomorrow.

• ABC Family Night in the Museum District, November 18th from 5;00 to 8:00pm
• Gift Card Orders Due on November 19th
• Highly Capable Technical Working Group Proposal to the Quality Education Council happened on Tuesday, November 16th

As the holidays approach, we’d also like to remind you that ABC is an Amazon affiliate, and that supporters of ABC who started their Amazon shopping using one of our links earned nearly $500 for our students’ classrooms in the last 12 months.  Thank you for your support of highly capable learners in Puyallup!

Highly Capable Program funding is in jeopardy.

• Highly Capable is a categorical program, and is not a part of basic education so is not protected from budget cuts.
• We survived the proposed cut in the First Supplemental Budget for 2009-2010.
• However, we don’t know what will be in the Second Supplemental Budget for our programs.

Therefore:

We need to communicate with the Governor now, before her Second Supplemental Budget proposal is completed.

We need to communicate with Legislators who are currently in office if there is a special session. If no special session, then contact legislators who will be in office in January.

We need to make contact now while options are open.

As a “special interest” group we will be asking Legislators to fund our particular “cause.” We are one group in a long line seeking to influence the budget.

We encourage you to talk to your Legislators as soon as possible about the Second Supplemental Budget and the 2011-2013 Biennial Budget. We encourage you to organize fellow parents and advocates to do so.

We know many of you are involved in gifted issues in local districts but we need you on state level. If the Legislature cuts funding or eliminates support for Highly Capable Programs, there may not be a program at your local school for you to support.

The state constitution calls “ample” education funding the state’s “paramount” duty and court cases have helped define this. Basic education is protected from budget cuts once education reform is implemented in September 2011, and highly capable programs will be sheltered from budget cuts. However, the goal is not yet reality.

These articles highlight the issues:

http://www.theolympian.com/2010/11/06/1429659/all-cuts-budget-message-received.html

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2013366174_budget07m.html

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorials/2013349173_edit05education.html

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2010/nov/07/leaders-see-tighter-coffer-bipartisan-tilt/

The following is from the Legislature web site.

Getting Your Opinions to Your Legislators

Toll-Free Hotline
Do you want to send a message to your Senator or Representative? Call the HOTLINE at 1-800-562-6000 (TTY for Hearing Impaired 1-800-635-9993). Callers to the Hotline can leave a brief message for their district legislators or for the Governor or Lt. Governor on issues of concern or on questions they may have about bills or laws. These messages are forwarded electronically to the appropriate individuals. When leaving a message with the Hotline, please be prepared to give your name and street address. For non-English speaking callers we offer interpreter services for many languages.

During the Legislative session, the Hotline is open from 8AM to 8PM Monday through Friday and from 9AM to 1PM on Saturday.
When the Legislature is not in session the Hotline is open from 8AM to Noon and from 1PM to 4:30PM Monday through Friday.

E-mail Forms
If you prefer e-mail, you may use the website’s e-mail forms to send messages to your legislators at any time. From the Member E-mail List page, you may click a legislator’s name to go to the e-mail form for that legislator.

Newly elected Legislators will not be on the web site until sworn in January 11, 2011, and you will have to contact them through their campaign web sites or local offices before that date.

To contact the Governor, go to http://www.governor.wa.gov/contact/default.asp and complete the form you find there.

This is our first update message of the 2010 school year.  If you expected to see this message in your inbox, but had to go to the website to find it, please make sure to sign up for one of our mailing lists using one or both of the sign up options on the right side of the page.  Our weekly digest messages will typically be sent out once at the end of the week, while urgent messages may go out daily depending on the nature of the news.  We expect this to be another very important year for gifted in the state legislature, and want to make sure we can keep everyone informed on any possible changes that could affect highly capable programs in our state. 

This message was sent to both mailing lists to allow our readers to make sure their subscriptions are working as anticipated.  You’ll be able to tell which list you registered for by checking the subject line on this message in your inbox.  You can also keep up with ABC on Facebook.  Be sure to “Like” us on Facebook to receive our updates.

Here’s what’s been posted at www.questabc.org recently:

• Come Play with Us
• Register Now for the WAETAG Parent Track
• Free SENG Webinar on Thursday, September 30th
• September 2010 Newsletter Now On-Line
• We Need Your Participation

Thanks for being a part of ABC.  We’re looking forward to seeing you soon!