Today was a terrible day for gifted education in NM. House Bill 241 passed in both houses of the legislature, and removes gifted from under the Special Education umbrella. My understanding is that Spec Ed protected the rights of parents and students with an IEP that was legally enforceable. Now flat rate funding will be instituted and gifted programming will be discretionary (varying district-district). This was widely supported by superintendents and the educators union lobby, despite our efforts to defeat.
I also had DS 13's IEP today (asking if this would be his last one--they said surely there'd be an exit IEP sometime)...Needless to say, they said that they were not allowed anything out of the ordinary for honors students, promising it would be more challenging next year since they'll have weeded out the kids who aren't able to do honors work.
DH, who rarely mentions education for fear it will get me going, actually said we'll have to plan something different when DS 9 (DYS) gets to high school.
Just thought I'd give that update since you all have been so sweet to "listen" to my sagas.
