Some states have legislation on the books establishing FAPE for all exceptionalities, including gifted. Mine is one of those. We fought for three years because the education was not appropriate. It's not free, either. We had to pony up a $10 materials fee on day one.
We are aware of public schools being "tuition free" however charging hundreds of dollars in registration fees, materials fees, lab fees, supplies fees, photocopying fees, activity fees (for field trips)... plus $200 or so for participation in gifted programming... not to mention the extracurricular fees which are often padded to include money designated for a school fund which provides scholarships to selected students in their senior year. Students are also expected to supply toilet paper and copier paper for school use, and Kleenex or other facial tissue for classroom use.
