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Gifted Education Advocacy Links & Resources

Kyna's Weekly Legislative Update
May 10, 2013
 

The Missouri General Assembly has spent the entire session crafting a state budget.  Thirteen budget bills (House Bills 1-13) make up the state's nearly $25 billion operating budget for FY 2014, which will last from July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014. The thirteen House bills were voted out of conference committee, yesterday, which irons out the differences between the Senate and House budget plans.  One last vote by both the House and the Senate are needed before advancing the budget to the Governor.  The constitutional deadline to have the budget to Governor Nixon is Friday, May 10, at 6 p.m.

Budget items of interest for the Gifted Association of Missouri:

  • $60,000 for a full-time gifted coordinator in the Division of Learning Services at the Department of Elementary & Secondary Education;
  • $200,000 for the 2014 Missouri Fine Arts Academy
  • (Last week, Governor Nixon released the $200,000 funding that was withheld earlier for the 2013 Academies)
  • $16 million for Bright Flight Scholarships (which is a $2.4 million increase)
  • $315,875 from Federal Funds for courses, exams, and other expenses that lead to high school students receiving college credit and Advanced Placement examination fees for low-income families and for science and mathematics exams;
  • $9,027 for the Morgan Ferman Memorial for Education of the Gifted.

 

Thanks goes to everyone who worked with me all session to continue calls and contacts to your State Representatives and State Senators to support gifted education!!

Please don’t forget to say thank you!!!  Legislators get lots of calls of requests.  Many advocates forget to say “thank you”.  A call over the weekend to say thank you to your Representative and Senator will impress upon them how critical gifted education funding is to his/her district, and that you recognize their support.

Thanks again!!  Let me know if you have any questions.

 

Thank you to the hundreds of gifted supporters who filled the Rotunda at the Missouri State Capitol for this year's Gifted Education Day. Thank you to all of the student speakers and guests. What a great model of advocacy for gifted in Missouri.
Thank you to every one who entered the GAM Student Video Contest and the GAM Student Essay Contest.

2013 GAM Student Essay Contest Results
High School Division
1st Place: Emily Staten, Essay: Gifted
2nd Place: Emma Green, Essay: Gifted Education
3rd Place: Robert Benson, Essay: The Great Opportunity

Middle School Division
1st Place: Madison Sikes, Essay: Gifted
2nd Place: Michael Dickerson, Essay: Why Being Gifted is Important to Me
3rd Place: Co-Winners: Kara Weiss, Essay: Success Street – The Path Gifted Students Take & Joscelynn Maloney, Essay: STAR, Meaning More Than Life Itself

Elementary Division
1st Place: Grace Garrett, Essay: Why We Should Keep Gifted Class
2nd Place: Tara Hartenbower, Essay: What the Gifted Class Means to Me
3rd Place: Michael Collard, What Students Advanced in Learning Means To Me

2013 “Get the Message Out” Video Winners
Elementary Winner - Hannah Archdekin, Video: Imagine
Secondary Winner - Josie Volk, Claire Frank, Cameron Zalmanoff & Tommy Lewis, Video: JCCT – Gifted Education
1st Runner-up - Adyson Carver, Video: A Day in the Life
2nd Runner-up - Tatum Independent Studies Project, Video: GAM Video Project
3rd Runner-up - Kollin Murphy, Video: GAM Video

     
 
GAM Advocacy Resources
 
  GAM Advocacy Agenda
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
For More Information, Please Contact:
 
  Kyna Iman, GAM Legislative Consultant, kynaiman@earthlink.net
   
 
 

Sarah Ludlow, GAM Legislative/Public Issues Representative sludlow@hotmail.com

 

 

 

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