I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 490
To give gifted and talented students the opportunity to develop their
capabilities.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 7, 2001
Mr. GALLEGLY (for himself, Mr. ETHERIDGE, Mr. WHITFIELD, Mrs. MINK of
Hawaii, Mrs. BONO, Mr. BALDACCI, Mr. ENGLISH, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr.
BURR of North Carolina, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. LEWIS of Kentucky, Mr.
DAVIS of Florida, Mrs. MORELLA, Mr. BOUCHER, Mr. FILNER, Mr.
STARK, and Mr. MOORE) introduced the following bill; which was referred
to the Committee on the Committee on Education and the Workforce
A BILL
To give gifted and talented students the opportunity to
develop their capabilities.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Gifted and Talented
Students Education Act of 2001’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following:
(1) Gifted and talented students give evidence
of high performance capability in specific academic
fields, or in areas such as intellectual, creative, artis-
tic, or leadership capacity, and require services and
activities not ordinarily provided by a school in order
to fully develop such capabilities. These children are
from all cultural, racial, and ethnic backgrounds,
and socioeconomic groups; some have disabilities and
for some, English is not their first language. Many
of these students have been historically underrep-
resented in gifted education programs.
(2) Because gifted and talented students gen-
erally are more advanced academically, are able to
learn more quickly and study in more depth and
complexity than others their age, their special edu-
cational needs require opportunities and experiences
that are different from those generally available in
regular education programs.
(3) There currently is no Federal requirement
to identify or serve the Nation’s approximately
3,000,000 gifted and talented students.
(4) While some States and school districts allo-
cate resources to educate gifted and talented stu-
dents, others do not. Additionally, State laws and
State and local funding, identification, and account-
ability mechanisms vary widely, resulting in a vast
disparity of services for this special-needs popu-
lation.
(5) If the United States is to compete success-
fully in the global economy, it is important that
more students achieve to higher levels, and that
highly capable students receive an education that
prepares them to perform the highly innovative and
challenging work performed in today’s workplace.
(6) The performance of 12th-grade advanced
students in the United States on the Third Inter-
national Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)
was among the lowest in the world. In each of 5
physics content areas and in each of 3 math content
areas, the performance of physics and advanced
mathematics students in the United States was
among the lowest of participating countries.
(7) Typical elementary school students with
academic gifts and talents have already mastered 35
to 50 percent of the school year’s content in several
subject areas before the year begins.
(8) In 1990, fewer than 2 cents out of every
$100 spent on elementary and secondary education
in the United States was devoted to providing chal-
lenging programming for the Nation’s gifted and tal-
ented students.
(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to provide
grants to States to support programs, classes, and other
services designed to meet the needs of the Nation’s gifted
and talented students in elementary and secondary
schools.
SEC. 3. PROGRAM AUTHORIZATION AND ACTIVITIES.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary is authorized to
provide grants to State educational agencies to assist local
educational agencies to develop or expand gifted and tal-
ented education programs through one or more of the fol-
lowing activities:
(1) 
PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
PRO-
GRAMS.—A State educational agency may expend
funds to develop and implement programs to address
State and local needs for inservice training programs
for general educators, specialists in gifted and tal-
ented education, administrators, school counselors,
or other personnel at the elementary and secondary
levels.
(2) TECHNICAL
ASSISTANCE.—A State edu-
cational agency may make materials and services
available through State regional education service
centers, universities, colleges, or other entities.
(3) INNOVATIVE PROGRAMS AND SERVICES.—
States may support innovative approaches and cur-
ricula used by school districts, individual schools, or
consortia of schools or school districts.
(4) EMERGING
TECHNOLOGIES.—States may
provide funds for challenging, high-level course
work, disseminated through new and emerging tech-
nologies (including distance learning), for individual
students or groups of students in schools and local
educational agencies that do not have the resources
otherwise to provide such course work.
(b) LIMITATIONS
ON USE
OF FUNDS.—Activities
under subsection (a)(4) may include development of cur-
riculum packages, compensation of distance learning edu-
cators, or other relevant activities, but funds provided
under this Act may not be used for the purchase or up-
grading of technological hardware.
SEC. 4. APPLICATION.
(a) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive a grant
award under this Act, a State educational agency shall
submit an application to the Secretary at such time and
in such form and manner as the Secretary may reasonably
require.
(b) CONTENTS.—The application shall include
assurances—
(1) that the State educational agency is des-
ignated as the agency responsible for the administra-
tion and supervision of programs assisted under this
Act;
(2) of the State educational agency’s ability to
provide matching funds for the activities to be as-
sisted under this Act in an amount equal to not less
than 20 percent of the grant funds to be received,
provided in cash or in kind;
(3) that funds received under this Act shall be
used to support gifted and talented students in pub-
lic schools, including students from all economic,
ethnic, and racial backgrounds, students of limited
English proficiency, gifted students with disabilities,
and highly gifted students;
(4) that not less than 90 percent of the funds
provided under the grant shall be used for the pur-
pose of making subgrants, on a competitive basis, to
local educational agencies;
(5) that funds received under this Act shall be
used only to supplement, but not supplant, the
amount of State and local funds expended for the
specialized education and related services provided
for the education of gifted and talented students;
and
(6) that the State educational agency shall de-
velop and implement program assessment models to
evaluate educational effectiveness and ensure pro-
gram accountability.
(c) APPROVAL.—To the extent funds are made avail-
able for this Act, the Secretary shall approve an applica-
tion of a State educational agency if such application
meets the requirements of this section.
SEC. 5. STATE USE OF FUNDS.
A State educational agency shall not use more than
10 percent of the funds made available under this Act
for—
(1) establishment and implementation of a peer
review process to review applications for subgrants
made under section 4(b)(4);
(2) supervision of the awarding of funds to local
educational agencies or consortia thereof to support
gifted and talented students in the State;
(3) planning, supervision, and processing of
funds made available under this section;
(4) monitoring and evaluation of programs and
activities assisted under this Act, including the sub-
mission of the annual report to the Secretary re-
quired in section 8;
(5) dissemination of general program informa-
tion;
(6) providing technical assistance under this
Act; and
(7) supplementing, but not supplanting, the
amount of State and local funds expended for the
education of, and related services provided for, the
education of gifted and talented students; and
(8) providing support for parental education.
SEC. 6. ALLOTMENT TO STATES.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise provided in
this section, of the total amount made available for this
Act, the Secretary shall award to each State educational
agency an amount that bears the same relation to the total
amount as the number of children ages 5 through 18 in
the State for the preceding academic year bears to the
total number of all such children in all States for such
year.
(b) RESERVATION OF FUNDS.—From the amount
made available to carry out this Act for any fiscal year,
the Secretary shall reserve 1⁄2 of 1 percent for the Sec-
retary of the Interior for programs under this Act for
teachers, other staff, and administrators in schools oper-
ated or funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
(c) MINIMUM AWARD.—No State receiving an allot-
ment under subsection (a) may receive less than 1⁄2 of 1
percent of the total amount allotted under such sub-
section.
(d) REALLOTMENT.—If any State does not apply for
an allotment under this section for any fiscal year, the
Secretary shall reallot such amount to the remaining
States in accordance with this section.
SEC. 7. COMPETITIVE GRANTS TO STATES.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Under section 10(b), the Sec-
retary shall use the funds under this Act for competitive
grants to State educational agencies to begin imple-
menting activities described in section 3 through competi-
tive subgrants to local educational agencies.
(b) APPLICATION.—The Secretary shall use the appli-
cation described in section 4 for grants awarded under this
section.
SEC. 8. REPORTING.
Any State educational agency receiving funds under
this Act shall submit a report to the Secretary beginning
one year after the date of the enactment of this Act and
each subsequent year that describes the number of stu-
dents served and the activities supported with funds pro-
vided under this Act. The report shall include a descrip-
tion of the measures taken to comply with the account-
ability requirements of section 4(b).
SEC. 9. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) The term ‘‘gifted and talented’’ has the
meaning such term has under State law or as such
term is defined by the State or local educational
agency, or in the case of a State that does not have
a law that defines the term and the State or local
educational agency has not defined the term, the
term has the meaning given such term under section
14101(16) of the Elementary and Secondary Edu-
cation Act (20 U.S.C. 8801(16)).
(2) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary
of Education.
(3) The term ‘‘State’’ means each of the 50
States, the District of Columbia, and the Common-
wealth of Puerto Rico.
(4) The term ‘‘State educational agency’’ has
the same meaning given such term in section
14101(28) of the Elementary and Secondary Edu-
cation Act (20 U.S.C. 8801(28)).
(5) The term ‘‘local educational agency’’ has
the same meaning given such term in section