SB 860

Under current law, each school board must ensure that pupils who have been

identified as gifted and talented have access to a gifted and talented program. For

purposes of this requirement, current law defines a “gifted and talented pupil" as a

pupil enrolled in a public school who gives evidence of high performance capability

in intellectual, creative, artistic, leadership, or specific academic areas and who

needs services or activities not ordinarily provided in a regular school program in

order to fully develop such capabilities.

Under the bill, each school board must submit an annual report to the

Department of Public Instruction that indicates whether the school board employs

a gifted and talented program coordinator and, if it does, the amount of time the

coordinator spends on the school board's gifted and talented program; the number

of gifted and talented pupils enrolled in the school district who received services

under a gifted and talented program; and certain demographic information for those

pupils. The bill also requires DPI to annually post on DPI's Internet site all of the

following information:

1. For each school district: a) the number of pupils who were evaluated for and

identified as a gifted and talented pupil; b) the number of pupils who received

services under a gifted and talented program and certain demographic data

regarding those pupils; c) whether the school district has complied with its duty to

provide access to a gifted and talented program; d) the services and activities

provided to pupils under the school district's program for gifted and talented pupils;

and e) whether the school district employs a gifted and talented program coordinator

and, if it does, the amount of time the coordinator spends on the gifted and talented

program.

2. For each gifted and talented program grant recipient, the services and

activities that the entity provided to gifted and talented pupils.

3. The statewide pupil participation rate in advanced placement courses.

DPI also must notify the appropriate standing committees of the legislature

that the information is available on DPI's Internet site.

Additionally, under the bill, DPI annually must audit at least 10 percent of

school districts, which must be selected at random, for compliance with the

requirements under current law and the bill. Finally, DPI must include in the school

and school district accountability report, commonly known as school and school

district report cards, DPI's determination of whether or not a school district complied

with the state law requirements related to programs for gifted and talented pupils.

Under current law, the Department of Workforce Development awards

workforce training grants, under what is commonly known as the Fast Forward

Program, for various workforce training purposes. One of the purposes under

current law is to provide grants for programs that train teachers and that train

individuals to become teachers. This bill expands that purpose to explicitly include