Javits Program Funding for 2010
Thanks to the last-minute efforts of advocates across the country, the House appropriations committee included $7.46 million for the Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act (Javits) in its fiscal year 2010 bill, the same amount the program received in 2009. Committee Chairman David Obey (WI-7) included money for the Javits program in the "manager's amendment," which restored funds to the program that had been eliminated in an earlier version of the bill. A special thanks goes to advocates in Connecticut and Wisconsin whose work helped secure this positive outcome. We can be reasonably sure that the bill, including funding for the Javits program, will be approved by the full House of Representatives.
Our work has not ended, however. We still need to secure funding for the program from the Senate; we need your help TODAY!
The first step in the Senate will be consideration of the Javits program by the appropriations subcommittee on Labor/HHS/Education, which meets on Tuesday, July 28 to craft its 2010 bill.
There are several things to do in the next few days:
Contact your Senators
(1) If your Senator is a member of the appropriations subcommittee, it is critical to contact him or her before July 28 in support of funding for the Javits program.
(2) If your Senator is not a subcommittee member, it is still important to contact him/her before Juy 28, but the message is slightly different.
All Senators have online email forms that you may use to send a message on the Javits program. Visit
www.senate.gov for the link.
Below are two sample messages for you to build on. Note that your message will be strengthened if you can add a few sentences explaining how your state or school district has benefitted from the Javits program.
For example, you may be able to share how your school district has benefitted from participation in Javits grant research, or your district may use assessment instruments, or curriculum developed from previous Javits grants, or your district may have relied on research from the National Research Center to improve its gifted education program or services.
If you don't have an example of direct benefit from the Javits program, you may want to add a general comment about how a federal investment in research on meeting the needs of gifted students from underserved populations is critical to our ability to cultivate talent in all student populations.
