Academic Booster Club

On-line bidding in our 2011 auction is now closed. We’ll open and evaluate bids and post the results shortly. Look for items not receiving minimum bids at our Open House on June 7th.

Our 2011 auction is now live!  Be sure to visit http://www.questabc.org to see what’s available and put in your bids.  Remember, in the event that two identical high bids for an item are received, the earliest bid received will win the item — so don’t delay, bid today!

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.

The 3rd ABC On-Line Auction begins Friday morning, May 13th at 8:00am. We will have a wide variety of items for you to choose from, so be sure to stop by and check it out. Remember, in the event of a tie for high bid on an item, the first bid received wins. Get your bids in early!

To Submit Bids

Online Bid – Bidders may submit a bid using the bidding forms available at www.questabc.org. Bids must be equal to or greater than the minimum bid amount. All bids must be made in full dollar amounts (no cents) and must be received between the opening, May 13^th at 8:00 AM, and closing of bidding, May 26^th at 4:00 PM. Each bid must contain the bidder’s first and last name, phone number, e-mail address, the auction item title, and the bid amount.

For the full rules, please see our 2011 ABC Auction Rules.

Our April board meeting has been rescheduled for Sunday, April 10th, at 6:30 at Chili Thai.  If you’d like to learn more about ABC,  or are interested in volunteering your time as a board member next year, we hope you’ll join us.

There was good news and excellent news for Highly Capable Programming in the initial House Democratic Budget proposal released on 4/4. 
 
The 2011 -  2013 budget proposes just over $18 million in funding for highly capable programming over the next two years.  That is very comparable to the amounts funded from 2009 – 2011.  That’s the good news.  The excellent news is that the $18 million is calculated using new formulas implemented in last session’s education reform bills, and would represent an inclusion of highly capable programming in the State’s definition of basic education.  This would be a significant step towards protecting state highly capable funding in future years and towards moving forward on the promise of education reform for highly capable learners.

We were disappointed to see that Centrum and Destination ImagiNation, two progams that had previously been funded alongside highly capable programming in the State budget, were not funded in the 2011 – 2013 proposal.
 
No alternative proposals have yet been released in either the House or the Senate.  A House Republican proposal may be released on Wednesday, but House Democrats are confident they have the votes necessary to pass their proposal as presented.  There is not yet a date scheduled for a vote on the House Democratic Budget proposal, and we don’t yet know when any budget proposals from the Senate may be released.  While this is just the beginning of what could be a long process, this puts highly capable programs in a stronger position than has been seen in recent years.
 
Additional legislation that would provide for an improved definition of highly capable learners and establish improved identification criteria (E2SHB 1443) has also passed key votes in both the House and Senate Chambers.  Puyallup Rep. Dammeier is a sponsor of HB 1443.  ABC President David Berg, some members of the State Highly Capable Program Technical Working Group, and members of the Washington Coalition for Gifted Education testified before the House Education Committee in favor of the bill and worked with the Committee on some amendments specific to highly capable programming that we were very pleased to see were adopted.

We will continue to work with the Washington Coalition for Gifted Education to monitor events in Olympia and will update you as the situation changes.

The relative calm in our advocacy efforts is about to come to an end.  Thursday will bring a new state financial forecast, and we expect to see the first budget proposal from the Senate Democrats shortly thereafter.  You may recall that the Governor proposed eliminating all state funding for highly capable programming in her 2011 – 2013 budget.  Advocates for highly capable have been making the case for funding highly capable programming throughout the session.  We were able to protect funding through the end of the current budget cycle, but our status in the next cycle remains unknown.

While we don’t know for certain what the legislature will decide, or when they will ultimately decide it, the leadership of the Puyallup School District can’t wait and has been hard at work writing their own budget proposal for next year.  The District expects to need to make about $6.5 million in cuts for the 2011 – 2012 school year.  In deciding where those cuts would come from, the District used the Governor’s proposed budget as a starting point.  As the Governor’s proposal contained no funding for highly capable, the District assumed that they would not receive the approximately $195,000 next year that they received from the state this year.    To reflect that reduction, the District’s 2011 – 2012 budget contains a $10,000 cut to highly capable programming.  While we would obviously prefer the QUEST and PAGE programs not be cut, and in a better financial situation would seek for the expansion of highly capable services, we understand that difficult choices have to be made.  ABC will continue to work with the Washington Coalition for Gifted Education and other local parent organizations to try to protect state funding for our students.  We don’t know at this time if a better outcome at the state level may result in the restoration of the $10,000 District cut.