I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 637

To give gifted and talented students the opportunity to develop their

capabilities.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 9, 1999

Mr. GALLEGLY (for himself, Mr. BALDACCI, Mr. BARRETT of Nebraska, Mr.

ETHERIDGE, Mr. DAVIS of Florida, Mr. ACKERMAN, Mr. SHOWS, and

Mrs. MORELLA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Education and the Workforce

A BILL

To give gifted and talented students the opportunity to

develop their capabilities.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Gifted and Talented

5 Students Education Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following:

8 (1) Gifted and talented students give evidence

9 of high performance capability in specific academic
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1 fields, or in areas such as intellectual, creative, artis2 tic, or leadership capacity, and require services or

3 activities not ordinarily provided by a school in order

4 to fully develop such capabilities. These children are

5 from all cultural, racial, and ethnic backgrounds,

6 and socioeconomic groups; some have disabilities and

7 for some, English is not their first language. Many

8 of these students have been historically underrep9 resented in gifted education programs.

10 (2) Because gifted and talented students gen11 erally are more advanced academically, are able to

12 learn more quickly and study in more depth and

13 complexity than others their age, their special edu14 cational needs require opportunities and experiences

15 that are different from those generally available in

16 regular education programs.

17 (3) There currently is no Federal requirement

18 to identify or serve the Nation’s approximately

19 3,000,000 gifted and talented students.

20 (4) While some States and school districts allo21 cate resources to educate gifted and talented stu22 dents, others do not. Additionally, State laws and

23 State and local funding, identification, and account24 ability mechanisms vary widely, resulting in a vast
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1 disparity of services for this special-needs popu2 lation.

3 (5) If the United States is to compete success4 fully in the global economy, it is important that

5 more students achieve to higher levels, and that

6 highly capable students receive an education that

7 prepares them to perform the most highly innovative

8 and creative work necessary in today’s workplace.

9 (6) The performance of twelfth-grade advanced

10 students in the United States on the Third Inter11 national Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)

12 was among the lowest in the world. In each of 5

13 physics content areas and in each of 3 math content

14 areas, the performance of physics and advanced

15 mathematics students in the United States was

16 among the lowest of participating countries.

17 (7) Typical elementary school students with

18 academic gifts and talents have already mastered 35

19 to 50 percent of the school year’s content in several

20 subject areas before the year begins.

21 (8) In 1990, fewer than 2 cents out of every

22 $100 spent on elementary and secondary education

23 in the United States was devoted to providing chal24 lenging programming for the Nation’s gifted and tal25 ented students.
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1 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to provide

2 grants to States to support programs, classes, and other

3 services designed to meet the needs of the Nation’s gifted

4 and talented students in elementary and secondary

5 schools.

6 SEC. 3. PROGRAM AUTHORIZATION AND ACTIVITIES.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary is authorized to

8 provide grants to States for use by public schools to de9 velop or expand gifted and talented education programs

10 through one or more of the following activities:

11 (1) PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PRO12 GRAMS.—States may expend funds to develop and

13 implement programs to address State and local

14 needs for inservice training programs for general

15 educators, specialists in gifted and talented edu16 cation, administrators, school counselors, or other

17 personnel at the elementary and secondary levels.

18 (2) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—A State may

19 make materials and services available through State

20 regional education service centers, universities, col21 leges, or other entities.

22 (3) INNOVATIVE PROGRAMS AND SERVICES.—

23 States may support innovative approaches and cur24 ricula used by school districts, individual schools, or

25 consortia of schools or school districts.
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1 (4) EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES.—States may

2 provide funds to provide challenging, high-level

3 course work to individual students or groups of stu4 dents in schools and school districts that do not have

5 the resources to otherwise provide the courses

6 through new and emerging technologies, including

7 distance learning. Funds may be used to develop

8 curriculum packages, compensate distance-learning

9 educators, or for other relevant purposes, but may

10 not be used for the purchase or upgrading of techno11 logical hardware.

12 (b) STATE INFRASTRUCTURE COSTS.—Not more

13 than 10 percent of the total amount received under this

14 Act may be used for State educational agency administra15 tive costs, such as facilitating the coordination of gifted

16 and talented education programs and services, disseminat17 ing information and materials to teachers and parents,

18 creating State gifted education advisory boards, and ad19 ministering funds received under this Act.

20 SEC. 4. APPLICATION.

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive a grant

22 award under this Act, a State educational agency shall

23 submit an application to the Secretary at such time and

24 in such form and manner as the Secretary may reasonably

25 require.
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1 (b) CONTENTS.—The application shall include assur2 ances that—

3 (1) funds received under this Act shall be used

4 to support gifted and talented students in public

5 schools, including students from all economic, ethnic,

6 and racial backgrounds, students of limited English

7 proficiency, gifted students with disabilities and

8 highly gifted students;

9 (2) not less than 90 percent of the funds re10 ceived by the State will be distributed to public

11 schools within the State; and

12 (3) funds received under this Act shall be used

13 only to supplement, but not supplant, the amount of

14 State and local funds expended for the specialized

15 education and related services provided for the edu16 cation of gifted and talented students.

17 (4) States shall develop and implement program

18 assessment models to evaluate educational effective19 ness and ensure program accountability.

20 (c) APPROVAL.—To the extent funds are made avail21 able for this Act, the Secretary shall approve an applica22 tion of a State educational agency if such application

23 meets the requirements of this section.
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1 SEC. 5. ALLOTMENT TO STATES.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection

3 (b), of the total amount made available for this Act, the

4 Secretary shall award to each State an amount that bears

5 the same relation to the total amount as the number of

6 children ages 5 through 18 in the State for the preceding

7 academic year bears to the total number of all such chil8 dren in all States for such year.

9 (b) MINIMUM AWARD.—If sufficient funds are made

10 available for this Act for each State to receive $1,000,000

11 in each fiscal year, each State that meets the requirements

12 of this Act shall receive not less than $1,000,000 each fis13 cal year.

14 (c) RATABLE REDUCTION.—If the amount made

15 available for this Act is insufficient to allocate the amount

16 specified in subsection (b), the allocation shall be ratably

17 reduced for each State.

18 SEC. 6. REPORTING.

19 The State educational agency shall submit a report

20 to the Secretary beginning one year after the date of the

21 enactment of this Act and each subsequent year that de22 scribes the number of students served and the activities

23 supported with funds provided under this Act. The report

24 shall include a description of the measures taken to com25 ply with the accountability requirements of section 4.
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1 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.

2 For purposes of this Act:

3 (1) The term ‘‘gifted and talented’’ has the

4 meaning such term has under State law or as such

5 term is defined by the State or local educational

6 agency, or in the case of a State that does not have

7 a law that defines the term and the State or local

8 educational agency has not defined the term, the

9 term has the meaning given such term under section

10 14101(16) of the Elementary and Secondary Edu11 cation Act (20 U.S.C. 8801(16)).

12 (2) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary

13 of Education.

14 (3) The term ‘‘State’’ means each of the 50

15 States and the District of Columbia.

16 (4) The term ‘‘State educational agency’’ has

17 the same meaning given such term under section

18 14101(28) of the Elementary and Secondary Edu19 cation Act (20 U.S.C. 8801(28)).

20 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATION.

21 There are authorized to be appropriated

22 $160,000,000 to carry out this Act for each of the fiscal

23 years 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004.

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