NAGC Legislative Advocacy
NAGC advocates in Congress and at the U.S. Department of Education on behalf of the gifted education community to increase federal support for gifted and talented learners. We urge our members and other supporters to assist these efforts by communicating regularly with their Members of Congress on the needs of gifted students. We have prepared an advocacy toolkit to help you gather the information you need to make the case for gifted education; we also offer suggestions to help supporters be even more effective advocates at the federal, state, and local levels.
NAGC also has a grassroots initiative -- where individual advocates work directly with NAGC to educate Members of Congress on issues of concern to the gifted education community. We call this initiative the Legislative Action Network and we invite you to be part of it. Click here for more information.
112th Congress
The 112th Congress convened on January 5, 2011, and will continue for two years. New start, new Members, new staff. The 112th Congress has more than 100 new members, which mean new opportunities, but hard work for advocates. It's time to begin the rounds of introducing, or re-introducing ourselves to our Members of Congress and their staff , letting them know about the gifted students in their districts and states, and raising awareness of how federal legislation and funding can make a difference for them and for the nation. Visit www.house.gov and www.senate.gov for email addresses and other contact information for your Members of Congress. We have also posted a printable version of the Congressional Directory. Consider making in-person visits to their district offices.
Legislation expires at the end of each Congress if it is not enacted. Therefore, NAGC's legislative initiatives must be renewed in the 112th Congress. In most cases, the House and Senate committees on education handle the legislation of greatest interest to gifted education advocates. The appropriations committees handle all funding-related issues, which is where we focus on attention for the Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act. Although it's important to reach out to all Members of Congress, we need to do even more with the men and women serving on these committees, and the specific subcommittees that handle education funding. Check the committee rosters to determine if your Members of Congress serve on one of them. If so, you know that it's especially important to begin early to develop a relationship with that office, and the staff person handling education issues.
TALENT ACT: Proposal to Support Gifted Students
NAGC is pleased to support a new legislative proposal that would amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), to support high-ability and high achieving students. The TALENT Act ("To Aid Gifted and High-Ability Learners by Empowering the Nation's Teachers Act") focuses on 4 key areas:
Change the accountability and assessment system to ensure that schools can pinpoint the level at which students have mastered state standards and by reporting the performance of top students on state report cards
Emphasize classroom practice through professional development for all teachers and other school personnel so that more educators are able to identify and meet the needs of gifted students, and by requiring states to include gifted students in their plans for use of federal Title II funds
Focus on underserved populations, by requiring states and districts to include gifted students and high-ability students not formally identified for gifted education services, in their planning for Title I funds, by allowing federal rural school funds to be used for teacher training in gifted education pedagogy, and by prioritizing underserved gifted students in awarding professional development and research grants under the TALENT Act
Emphasize research and dissemination of best practices in gifted education to support effective teaching and learning for gifted students.
The bipartisan legislation was introduced by Senators Chuck Grassley (Iowa) and Bob Casey (PA) and in the House by Representatives by Elton Gallegly (CA-24) and Donald Payne (NJ-10). Click here for more information about the legislation. Click here for a list of cosponsors.
Update on ESEA Reauthorization
Struggle to Include Needs of Gifted & High-Potential Students to Continue in the Senate
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee approved a bill (15-7) to reauthorize the Elementary and Secretary Education Act (ESEA), the nation’s core K-12 education law, that included some a few provisions addressing gifted and talented students. The bill now moves to the Senate floor for consideration, perhaps as early as February 2012. There is no similar bill in the House.
Thanks to Senator Richard Blumenthal (CT), along with Senators Robert Casey (PA) and Barbara Mikulski (MD), an amendment that would continue research grants that examine best practices in gifted and talented education and would retain a National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented was adopted by the committee. However, a Casey-Mikulski amendment to increase federal support for high-ability and high-potential students was not allowed to be offered, for fear it would risk a fragile bipartisan agreement on the bill. Specifically, the amendment would have tracked closely along the TALENT Act, NAGC’s core legislation for the current Congress that would, among other things, hold states and districts more accountable for the performance of high-achieving students and allow federal teacher preparation funds to be used to increase general education teachers' ability to identify and support gifted learners.
Committee supporters, along with long-time champion Sen. Chuck Grassley (Iowa) are beginning to lay the foundation to amend the bill when it comes to the floor of the full Senate, which may occur before the end of 2012. NAGC, and its advocacy partners at the Council for Exceptional Children, will be working closely with supporters on this floor strategy.
NAGC members and other gifted education supporters will be critical to our ability to prevail on the Senate floor. We'll reach out to advocates as soon as we have details and timing to share.
In the meantime, we urge you to continue talking to your Senators about the TALENT Act, particularly requesting that they cosponsor the legislation. A strong number of cosponsors – particularly among members of the HELP committee – would be an important sign for Senate leadership as we head towards Senate floor debate and consideration.
Fiscal Year 2013
The annual appropriations process is underway in Congress, with House and Senate hearings to gather information from the public and the the Administration on priorities for federal funding for fiscal year 2013, which begins on October 1, 2012. President Obama submitted his proposed budget for fiscal year 2013 to Congress in mid February. Click here for more information about President Obama's education budget proposal. Education continues to be a priority for the president, with a proposed 2.5% increase in discretionary funding over 2012, for a total request of $69.8 billion for preK-grade 20. Unfortunately, the proposal does not include funding for the Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act. And although the budget document discusses the need to support gifted students from low-income backgrounds, the Administration's support (and funds) depends on a new program to be created during the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. NAGC is disappointed that the President has adopted a "wait and see" approach to developing and funding programs to support high-ability students rather than funding programs, such as the Javits program, already authorized by Congress. Click here for NAGC Executive Director Nancy Green's comments on the education budget proposal.
It will be another difficult fiscal year, but NAGC will work with our supporters in Congress and with CEC to explore options for securing FY 2013 funding for gifted and talented education. Our Senate and House supporters have requested that the Appropriations Committees continue research initiatives for gifted and talented education, strengthening the direction Congress gave the Department of Education in fiscal year 2012 (see below). Click here to read the House and Senate letters.
NAGC also sent a joint letter with CEC to the members of the House and Senate subcommittees that handle education funding in support of funding for the Javits program. Click here for the Senate letter.
No Federal Funding for Gifted Ed in 2012 - Congress Directs Department to Continue Research
The final package of appropriations bills cobbled together in late 2011 to fund federal agencies and programs through September 2012 did not include funding for the Javits program, which was de-funded in 2011. However, the report that accompanied the omnibus appropriations bill included some supportive language for gifted education.
The "report language" urges the Institute for Education Sciences (IES), the U.S. Department of Education's research arm, to continue research into the learning needs of gifted and talented students, to retain a national research center on the gifted, and to include gifted and talented children in the key data collection efforts and reports developed by IES. NAGC and CEC will discuss with Department officials several ways in which IES can meet Congress's intent to continue this critical research.
Gifted students have been fortunate to have long-time friends in the Congress who lead the effort to secure support for funding for the Javits program each year. Gifted education supporters have done a great job in developing bipartisan support in both the House and Senate for the needs of gifted students. It's imperative that we keep up the education and advocacy efforts with every Members of Congress so that there is increased understanding and support that can be translated into federal initiatives.
U.S Department of Education
NAGC regularly responds to requests for comment from the U.S. Department of Education on grant programs and other initiaties on which the Department seeks public input. Much of our federal education policy is shaped by the Department through its discretionary authority. The requests for comments are published in the Federal Register. Most recently, NAGC sent a letter to the director of the Institute for Education Sciences (IES), the research arm of the Department, about increasing the amount -- and specificity -- of information available about the condition of education for gifted and talented students. NAGC has also submitted comments on proposed priorities for IES as well as on proposed generalized priorities for the various discretionary grants funded by the Deparrtment. Click here to read the IES letter and the discretionary grants letter.
President's Blueprint for ESEA Reauthorization
In 2010 President Obama submitted a proposal for federal K-12 education reform to congress in a 40-page document entitled A Blueprint for Reform. The blueprint offers few details on how the changes called for would be designed and implemented and ofers a mixed picture on gifted education. The Javits Gifted & Talented Students Education Act would be combined with Advanced Placement and School Dropout Reform into a single grant program (similar to the President's fiscal year 2011 and 2012 budget requests), which if adopted, would essentially end the Javits program in its current configuration of research and demonstration grants plus the National Research Center. However, the Blueprint also includes a statement that more elementary and middle school students need access to gifted and talented education. This may be the first time in decades that a president has specifically called on Congress to address the needs of gifted students. Click here to read NAGC's response.
Continuing Communication with Congress
In order to increase our support in Washington, we must do more during the year to keep Members of Congress apprised of the need for, and value of gifted education programs and services. Not only do they need to hear your stories, they also need to understand that the availability of services for gifted students varies widely between and within states, which in turn leads to huge gaps in how far our brightest students can go. Every Member of Congress has a website at www.house.gov or www.senate.gov and each has either an email address or an online email form for constituents to use to share their views.
Leadership from the federal government could make a difference to ensuring that high-ability students from every background receive the services they need to reach their full potential. Check out some of the materials in the advocacy toolkit to help you develop letters-to-the-editor of your local paper. Members of Congress all pay close attention to the issues that appear locally, so this is a great place to begin.
Please visit this space regularly. We' are rolling up our sleeves to work on a range of issues. Please join us!
ARCHIVE
Click here for information from the 111th Congress
Click here to read about the Higher Education Act legislative victory in the 110th Congress.