Yes, another important point, for the administration, the school budget is a zero-sum game.
Let's spell out how this specifically affects gifted children. Basically we are seen as asking for more resources. In a zero-sum game this takes away from other stakeholders. Since gifted represent 1 or 2 % of parents, which is not an important constituency to begin with, they would rather we just go away. You can get a soft-shoe shuffle out of them, but little action. I would not mind an extension of this discussion into any best practices or success stories in a negotiation with a school.
Consider for example the vaunted Palo Alto Unified School District. They used to IQ test. They would call some parents in and say "well it looks like your child is gifted." Parents would then ask what happens next, and they would say "well, nothing, but we thought you'd like to know". I guess maybe they had tracking, but no gifted program. Now however PAUSD has improved the process. They no longer even bother to test. They just say that, like Lake Wobegone, all their students are gifted. Problem solved!
