Dear School Board:

I am writing about the current budget deliberations (a topic that surely brings new meaning to the phrase “March Madness”) with a strong request that you put the dollars for talented and gifted education on the “Do Not Touch” list.

Before I outline the reasons for my request, I’d like to make sure you know that in my eight years as a District parent, the vast majority of my school-based energies have gone towards programs and activities that have not directly benefited my own two children, now in seventh and fourth grades.  Some examples of the kinds of things I have done over the years are: I was an active member of the Franklin-Randall PTO Diversity and Community Building Committee during its first three years of existence (1999 - 2002), serving as its chair for the second and third of those years.  During that time, I successfully lobbied the PTO to hire Steve Levine to do a “Building Bridges” group on racism with interested parents and staff; I oversaw the creation of a PTO Crisis/Outreach Subcommittee, as well as the creation of a special Crisis Fund, all aimed at assisting Franklin-Randall families during times of crisis and great need; I lobbied the PTO to commission a group of our Hmong mothers and grandmothers to make a story cloth for each school, depicting their journey from Laos to Madison and especially to the Franklin-Randall community; and I oversaw a PTO General Meeting on classroom activities designed to be more inclusive of students from LGBT families.  In addition to my PTO activities, this is my third year mentoring a young Hispanic student at Franklin-Randall.

My point is simply that it is unusual for me to put so much time and energy into an effort that so directly benefits my own children as this one does.  Unfortunately, I feel the times demand it.  I really do not want to join the ranks of those who have pulled their children from the Madison schools, either to go private or to home school.
 

The law: Standard (t)

First, it is important to understand that talented and gifted programming is not a luxury item.  It is mandated by State statute (complete statutory information attached), referred to collectively as Standard (t).  Districts found to be noncompliant with the statutes for gifted and talented education – for example, as a result of parent complaints – risk losing up to 20% of their State tax revenues.
 

The facts:

According to the Functional Analysis done by Virchow Krause last year, “Specific data do not exist to confirm or refute the effectiveness of [the TAG] program.  The only gauge of effectiveness is an outdated compliance audit performed by the DPI in 1990, which noted several areas of noncompliance with the DPI Standard (t).  Memos between the DPI and the District indicate that some progress has been made in rectifying these issues, however, the last documentation regarding this issue was in 1994" (p. 85).  (Note: copies of the audit report and subsequent memos will be attached if I get them in time.)  According to Mary Parks of the DPI (personal communication, 3/11/03), the paragraph from the Functional Analysis is accurate and, furthermore, there has been no change in the situation since it was written last year.  Thus, our District has been in noncompliance with Standard (t) since at least 1990.
 

The data:

Money: According to the Functional Analysis, the MMSD TAG budget serves approximately 5000 students across the District.  Interestingly, this is essentially the same number of students served by the District’s Special Education budget.  The 2001-02 budget included $1,032,050 for TAG services and $49,761,955 for Special Education services.  (Note: I am fully aware of the Federal mandate regarding special education, it’s being unfunded, etc.  Even so, I find the comparison a useful one and hope you will, too.)  The 2002-03 budget contains $556,000 for TAG services (Teaching and Learning Department, personal communication, 3/12/03) and $51,318,437 for Special Education services. Thus, from last year to this, there was a 54% cut in funding for TAG services versus a 3% increase in funding for Special Education services (despite the fact that the Functional Analysis actually recommended a small decrease in that budget, if I recall correctly).

Dropout/non-attendance:  The Administration’s “2003-04 Budget Discussion Items” (distributed at the 3/10/03 BOE meeting) contains the following statement: “ ... there is a larger proportion of our highest achieving students represented in our non-attending/dropout population than any other group.  Therefore, [eliminating the TAG resource positions] could have the negative effect of further lowering the attendance rates, particularly at the high school level” (p. 126).  More specifically, District data indicate that a full 27% of our high school dropouts between 1995 and 1999 scored at the 85th percentile and above on standardized tests earlier in their educational careers.  Of that group, 42% were minority students and 53% were from low income families (MMSD TAG staff presentation, 3/13/03 BOE meeting).  Clearly, it is a myth that all “high end” students are white and middle class or that “those kids will do just fine,” as so many MMSD teachers and administrators have been known to say (at times rather flippantly, I might add).   In addition to non-attendance and failure to graduate, nationally, some of the highest rates of depression, anxiety disorders, eating disorders and suicidality occur amongst our most talented and academically advanced middle and high school students.  “Gifted children tend to hurt more privately,” it has been said, “as a society, we tend to underestimate the costs both to them and to ourselves of their reduced motivation and achievement (Robinson et al., 2000 – article attached).
 

The reality:

Make no mistake about it, the parents of MMSD students who qualify for and need TAG services are feeling frustrated and getting angry.  They are educating themselves about the laws and best practices.  They are finding each other and starting to talk, really talk.  Increasingly, they are talking about: 1) requesting another DPI audit; 2) lobbying the DPI to once again hire a full time gifted and talented educational consultant (this in collaboration with other parents throughout the State); 3) going to the press; and 4) filing a class action suit against the District.  There is also talk of guerilla-type warfare, for example, having their children omit their high school code when filling out the SAT and ACT score report forms, which would effectively prevent the District from using these students’ high test scores for its own purposes.  Finally, increasing numbers of these parents (it would be useful to know exactly how many) are deciding to send their children to private school.
 

The conclusion:

Having cut the TAG program in half in last year’s round of budget cuts, it would be unconscionable for you to touch it again this year, and you would do so at great legal risk.   As it is, the District is reneging on its moral and legal responsibilities to this rather large segment of the MMSD student population, which includes students from all racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups.
 

An analogy:   I’d like to close with an analogy, one I hope you will find useful.  I see you as the parents of a large family, under pressure to reduce the amount of money you spend on your household food budget.  You have to stop buying some of the foods you currently use regularly.  Those foods vary in their flavorfulness and nutritional value for your growing children.  Some are full of essential nutrients, but only taste O.K.  Others taste great, but are completely devoid of nutritional benefit.  You need to choose wisely in order to optimize your children’s growth and well-being.  I hope you have the wisdom to see clearly which are truly protein sources, complex carbohydrates, and fresh fruits and vegetables, and which are merely foods that taste good, but offer your growing children little if any nutritional (i.e., bona fide educational) value.  May you have the courage to make the healthy choices.

Please remember that the primary purpose of our schools is to educate.

Thank you,