Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums THINKING BIG About Gifted Education cut backs and gifted programs

Since it affects our ability to get into gifted programs, is anyone seeing programs cut because of cut backs and layoffs in the school districts?

I also know that in our schools, Spanish and chess are paid for by the PTA and we do all the fundraising to pay for those programs and our fundraising is starting to stall.

Ren

While we don't yet know how the gifted programs will look next year in our district, last night our local school board approved the layoffs of nearly 2/3s of our gifted program teachers. They seem to think the classroom teachers can adequately serve the gifted children -- without training, without resources, but with increased class sizes.

We haven't seen cuts to gifted programming. They may have lost staff at the administrative level but no decrease in gifted program teachers at our school. We are seeing much bigger class sizes just like the rest of the school district. I almost get the impressions that they are packing in as many kids into the gifted classes as they can to protect the program. No one can claim that it is undersubscribed. I just hope that they are not lowering standards to keep numbers up.

It's happening in our area. Think parents would pay for gifted programs after school for our kids?

Why not? It's what parents around here have done for over a decade. (Not kidding.)

All flippancy aside, most GT programming in my entire state has been in survival mode since the early 1990's, and the past four years certainly haven't helped matters any. The meager programming which did exist is even drying up now.

Our home district has completely defunded GATE, increased class size and imposed furlough days and insists they can adequately meet the needs of GATE children through differentiated instruction in the classroom. The reality is that teachers have to spend their time on the lowest performing kids so they can increase test scores and not risk a review or funding loss under NCLB. Those with knowledge of education transfer their GATE kids out of district.

things are fairly depressing at our public school which is a top performing school in an upper middle class community: class size has doubled since they let go of teachers, and the gifted program is cut. Also, support positions are limited so teachers have to manage behavior problem and special needs kids alongside the gifted. They don't even start to work with the gifted coordinator until 2nd or 3rd and my DD is only in K. They are talking about simple shapes and colors in her class, and there isn't any time for recess, crafts, and a decent snack since they are rushing through their short day, and focusing on academics that are much too easy. They have told me that by the end of September that they will have figured out how to group students according to ability, and thankfully, we know of another boy of similar ability (as far as I know) in her class. Fortunately, my DD5 isn't complaining yet. She is outgoing and social and the short day is a plus from her perspective.
Oh, her teacher is kind hearted and well intended, just overwhelmed with a huge diverse class with kids with behavior issues. I thought my DD5 might have problems in the class but she has been adjusting well and not acting out at all. The teacher met with me and said that she asks my DD questions that she thinsk are beyond the others so I think my DD feels more respected than she did by her pre-k teacher who would just baby talk to her. I think her teacher still shoots too low, but it is better than last year.

Illinois has no requirements for gifted. They provide no funding. Our school district does have a magnet program that starts in third grade. The gifted programs in the schools have been cut back though. Our GATE teacher is split between 3 schools. One school gets her 3 days a week (they have 35 students in the program) and the other 2 schools get her 1 day each )they each have 9 students in the program). Last year we had her 3 days a week . This year just 1 .






We would pay for it but the state would say no. We tried it with all day kinder garten and the state jumped in and said if one school has it all schools in the district get it. AND it couldn't be parent paid because that would discriminate.. even though there were provisions in place for scholarships for low income families.

In the city next door to ours (which is a poor, high immigrant area), they basically dismantled their gifted program. It was only a once a week pull out anyway, and my friends whose kids were in it said it was a joke.
Our G/T program so far is holding steady. They take the top 15% or so on competitive exam into it starting in 4th grade, full-time, all inclusive. The secretary and coordinator for the program had their hours cut, so it's harder to get a hold of them to answer questions.
Of course, out here in California, education doesn't seem to be a priority! My first grader's class has 26 kids, and in fourth grade, it goes to 32 kids per class. Ouch. Our PTA last year raised $120,000, which was poured right back into the school to replace funds that the state cut. My kids have two, 20-minute PE classes each week, that's it...

Our PTA raises about 600-700K per year, every year, to pay for the assistant teachers, chess, Spanish. We are constantly grant writing, got huge grants last year for technology. This is NYC, where the best public schools have PTAs that are constantly fundraising, otherwise we would zip. And hence the disparity between the schools in the more affluent zones and ones in east harlem or the south bronx.

You need to create an alternate PTA to raise alternate funds.

We got a grant to redo the playground, 300K. There is money out there but you have to work and the PTA has to do it. Or else go and pay the 30K for private school.

I think it is going to get worse. So my daughter has a new technology lab at school to use because we did the grant writing. It would be nice if the people in charge really did their job but considering how Congress acts like teenage cliques, what can you really expect?

LOL. They are using the GT person for regular classes. Pretty clever.

How much money does the district spend on sports on a per student enrolled in sports basis? I am all for sports, played varsity in several sports and got my letters, but IMHO they should be private organizations not affiliated with schools at all.

You could then take the money used for sports and for grounds upkeep and coaches salaries and put that into education.

Its affecting the other end of the spectrum, too.

Schools are also mainstreaming the learning disabled students.

I doubt that will benefit the regular classes.

It's a money problem nationwide.

Well, yeah, budgets are beginning to affect Special Education decisions, but sometimes this is a good thing. Depending on the local budget structure and parent wishes, some disabled students sit in pull-out classrooms for years that would really benefit from being with their non-disabled peers.

For example, in my state, a school's Special Education budget has been separate from the school's general budget, and has been determined by the number of students and the intensity of their needs (expressed in hours of services). Schools have had a financial disincentive to move kids into more general education classes or out of special education altogether. Add to that the pressure of parents that do not want anything taken away from their children, and you do often end up with an inappropriate placement.

When a team meets to make that kind of decision, the needs of the child are supposed to be the driving factor, not available resources. But those decisions are made by humans, and humans have all kinds of motivations.

I'm a general education teacher, one who has been more heavily involved in the files of disabled students than most. I appreciate having Special Education students in my classroom. A small fraction of them can be disruptive, but the same is true of the rest of the students.

My experience has been that having (properly placed) disabled students and English Language Learners in the general education classroom is of enormous benefit to those students, with no significant impact on the achievement of other students. Sometimes an annoyance, but most students are blissfully unaware that their neighbors have an IEP and some special education classes.

And to be honest, sometimes adults do things in school that are more disruptive than what most Special Education students do. Having a functional school with appropriate supports--and a solid understanding of those supports on the part of the teachers--makes a huge difference in general.

I agree Beckee. A lot of kids can be mainstreamed and it helps both these kids and the regular student body. In my HS my GF volunteered to help with the first year of a mainstreaming pilot there and the results were very positive.

My ODS shared a class with a special ed child last year and my YDS is doing so this year. In fact, we just went to her birthday party last weekend and fun was had by all!

I think it greatly benefits my children to see such diversity in the classroom, as long as their own education remains rigorous. I think that separating Special Ed kids (and Gifted too) in their own classrooms creates unfamiliarity and discomfort with difference. And these are some of the conditions that lead to bullying and exclusion. By the time my son hits the older grades and that stuff starts kicking in, I am hoping that Cheyenne will just be Cheyenne that I've known since kinder and not "the Special Ed kid"!

Since you've said this, and it does make sense, I googled it and quickly found school grants . org, which tries to sell you a grant writing course on cd. I don't mind buying it, but since you're already involved I thought I'd ask if you could recommend a good resource for me to educate myself about the process. I would love to help my town and the kids.

I don't do the grant writing at our PTA. There are people, like an astrophysicist mom, who do this for their jobs and they know how to get it done effectively. Find someone in your group with similar experience to help.

I've been on both sides of the grant process, first in my early teens writing them and then in my 30s sitting on eval committees.

Its not that hard to write a winning grant request. It just takes time and commitment. The quality of requests is hit and miss. A well written request by an "amatuer" with lots of facts and cites is going to blow the barn doors off.

Texas has a TON of foundations, too.

I'd start by getting copies of winning requests and by researching what grants are available locally and in the state. Once you become a rainmaker, people will come out of the woodwork, so watch out for that, too.

I'd think you'd probably be good at it!

Our schools state wide have for the most part lost their GT teachers and support. They are dealing with the problem the best they can through acceleration but that's not always a great option. I DO give them credit for trying though.

Our prinicipal said point blank our District has no more official GATE program. Kind of makes me glad I didn't go running for a gate track at another school. It is now under Special Ed (which I already thought it was) so any money there is goes for the kids with the greatest needs, whatever those may be.
I don't think it's going to make much difference in the day to day reality of the classroom. It's not like you are going to stop the teachers from doing what they are good at, if they are good at it. It might mean more fundraising (though for sure at my school NOT for specific gate type stuff) or less field trips. Our school is small and I think it's Title 1? more than a certain % get free/reduced lunch.
On the other hand, our very small, but hardworking parent's assoc has managed to provide a drama enrichment for the K-6 for 2 years in a row and we are doing a dance theatre thing this year. We are looking to hire a Spanish teacher for the K-6 and have arranged a guitar teacher after school, $40 for 8 weeks, once a week, guitars provided. Our 4th graders actually have orchestra as part of the cirriculum.
Those things are good for everyone, I think, so I'm just going to worry about my one kid and meeting her needs than the program as a whole, at least for now lol!