ILLINOIS ASSOCIATION FOR
GIFTED CHILDREN
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
Recently, the Illinois State Board of Education
met to determine the proposed budget for fiscal year 2007. Unfortunately, once
again they did not recommend a line item for gifted education. Our only
recourse at this time is to contact the governor. The more calls and letters he
gets, the louder he hears the message to restore gifted funding. His
budget address will be held on Feb. 15, so we do not have much time to act.
We are asking every gifted student, their parents, and teachers to contact the
governor requesting that a specific line item funding gifted education be
restored in the 2007
The Gifted Advocacy Co Chairs
SAMPLE LETTER http://www.iagcgifted.org/GovenorB.html
Governor Blagojevich
207 State House
Dear Governor Blagojevich,
Soon you will have an opportunity to determine funding for schools throughout
the state of
The mission statement of the Illinois State Board of Education states,
³Illinois education second to none,² Yet funding for Illinois school children
hovers at the bottom of the list when compared with the other 49 states. Front
page stories in the news address the fact that our college students no longer
have the critical thinking skills to compute mileage between destinations,
compare and contrast various credit car rates or balance checkbooks. Education
Weekıs Quality Counts a Decade of Standards Based Education gives
Recently the Illinois State Board of Education met to discuss the proposed
education budget for fiscal year 2007. At that time it was determined that the
restoration of funding for gifted education would not be recommended once again.
One of the reasons given by ISBE Board members was that they did not want to
single out a specific group for funding. Yet that is exactly what we do in the
ISBE budget. We provide funding for specific groups. We provide funding for
pre-kindergarten children, for students with limited English abilities, for
autistic children, for children interested in pursuing careers in agriculture
and for students interested in technical careers as well as those interested in
arts and foreign language. We look at the needs of specific groups and
establish line item funding for those groups.
Gifted students continue to be an overlooked special needs group in our state.
We want them to attend our schools, to increase our test scores, yet we feel no
obligation to provide a daily setting where they can learn. The research is
clear that these students spend far more time waiting to learn than they
actually spend learning in our schools, yet because many of them score well on
tests, we are not concerned.
We want the support of their parents during election years, during referendums,
and at our PTO meetings, yet when the parents of gifted students plead with us
to provide educational opportunities for their children, we turn a deaf ear.
Governor Blagojevich, the gifted children, their parents, and their teachers
are asking you to understand that this group comes to you asking only that you
provide funding in a specific line item so all teachers have the knowledge and
resources necessary to provide learning opportunities to gifted students on a
daily basis. We appreciate your consideration of this request and will
work with you to make this possible.
Sincerely,
=====================================
"The difference between what we do and what we
are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems."
--Mahatma Gandhi
IAGC Advocacy Committee
GOAL: Educate the decision-makers
about the needs of gifted children
Co-Chairs:
Parent Affiliates
GOALS:
1 - Increase the networking opportunities for parents of 165,000+ students
throughout 893 school districts in Illinois
2 - Assist all parents with ways to advocate for their children.
Chair: Terry James Mohaupt -
800 East
Northwest Highway, Suite 610
Palatine,
Phone 847-963-1892
Fax 847-963-1893
http://www.iagcgifted.org
an affiliate of NAGC http://www.nagc.org/