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TAGT Advocacy Goals

 

2025 Advocacy Goals

Background: TAGT focuses its policy-related advocacy on goals that will strengthen programs, services, and funding for gifted and talented education. The goals must address the current statewide decisions impacting public education in general, and especially those that relate to gifted and talented education.

Advocacy Goal: Ensure Comprehensive School Funding 
TAGT supports an increase to the basic allotment to include adjustments for inflation, student education, teacher compensation, and G/T weighted funding.

Advocacy Goal: Ensure Appropriate Dedicated State Funding for G/T
In 2021, the Legislature reinstated designated funding for G/T students, in addition to the funds that are included in the basic allotment. TAGT supports the protection of and increase in designated G/T student funding. 

Advocacy Goal: Ensure Funded Universal G/T Screening
Secure funded state-wide mandate to universally screen all second and sixth graders for gifted/talented programs.

Advocacy Goal: Ensure District Reporting Requirements and Compliance with State Plan 
School districts must certify to the commissioner as complying with TEC Subchapter D, Chapter 29 to receive G/T Allotment. TAGT will work in partnership with TEA to support appropriate and timely regulatory efforts to ensure LEAs meet the spirit and stated language in the Texas Education Code and State Plan.

Advocacy Goal: Support Accountability Measures That Recognize G/T Students
TAGT supports continued legislative efforts that measure and highlight post-secondary outcomes for gifted students in the A-F accountability system, including but not limited to early graduates, students taking accelerated courses beyond their grade level, students who skip a grade, and successful credits by exam. 

  • Adapt the accountability system to integrate advanced learner and gifted/talented strategies, encompassing initiatives such as credit by exam for original credit, pre-AP/IB, AP/IB courses, project- and problem- based learning, as well as options for single-subject or full-grade acceleration.
Advocacy Goal: Encourage TEA to Collect, Disaggregate and Report Data about Gifted Education Programs 
TAGT believes the Texas Education Agency must gather data in a simple and straightforward manner about the gifted and talented programs and services school districts offer. This data should include information regarding academic performance, identification procedures, and program evaluation. This is not to evaluate or rank school districts, but to provide data about the services offered as part of districts’ gifted programming. This will create greater transparency for taxpayers and for parents who need the information to make informed decisions about their children’s education. 
Include a disaggregated data for gifted and talented students within the Texas Academic Performance Reports (TAPR) College, Career, and Military Readiness (CCMR) report, alongside other special populations to ensure a comprehensive review of the performance of gifted and talented students within the framework of state-supported outcome reporting.

Advocacy Goal: Encourage TEA to include Gifted Education in Texas’ ESSA State Compliance Plan
If/when the Texas implementation plan for ESSA is revisited, TAGT believes the Texas Education Agency ESSA State Plan should mirror and reflect the federal ESSA plan in regards to language and focus around gifted students and should recognize gifted in compliance measures.


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