DO YOU BELIEVE IN JAVITS?
Some members of Congress do not. NAGC says that last week a U.S. House subcommittee eliminated funding for the only federal program specifically supporting gifted and talented students. This program is a perennial political football, deflated for 2010 to a funding level of $7.5, down from its "traditional" level of over $11 million. The Senate subcommittee responsible for funding the Javits Program meets on July 27th (postponed from the 22nd) to consider funding for the program, among others.
NAGC makes it really easy to advocate for Javits funding. First, go here to find out more. Then, if you live in the one of the 14 states represented by a Senator on the appropriations subcommittee, you can use a government link to go directly to that senator's website and contact him or her. Those states are: Alabama, Arkansas, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin.
In comparison to the $11.25 million that NAGC would like to see in funding for the Javits Program, consider these budget requests:
- The administration is requesting $12.8 billion in 2011 funds for special education.
- $1.8 billion is requested to manage the US Department of Education.
- Total funding for elementary and secondary education is $25 billion, as near as we can tell from the government's obfuscated presentation on budget numbers.