"I am not in the business of doing away with CLUE or any other gifted education program, and we need a plan for gifted education,'' Maddox, D-Dresden, said Tuesday, after parents and school groups from across the state packed a House Education Committee hearing to oppose his bill.

Maddox and Sen. Roy Herron, D-Dresden, sponsored the bill at the behest of Steve Ramsey, the administrator of special education for the Weakley County School system. Ramsey told the committee Tuesday that education for gifted students "isn't a good fit'' with a special education system struggling to teach severely impaired or disabled children. In addition, state and local educators are under pressure from federal special education mandates that have come without federal funding to pay for them.

"I have not spoken to any special education supervisor who wants to do away with gifted education, we just think gifted education would do better outside special education,'' Ramsey told the panel. "Gifted education isn't funded by the federal government.''

Because intellectually gifted children are included in Tennessee's special education programs by law, school systems are required to identify gifted students and provide services to fit their needs. Those rights can be enforced if an education system fails to comply. Maddox proposal would eliminate intellectually gifted children from the special education law, and it proposes the development of a plan to provide for gifted education in the regular classroom by 2003.

Without the assurance of required services, advocates for the gifted fear that budget strains would eliminate funding for those programs.

"Special education provides a safe haven for gifted education, and without that designation, gifted children would lose their rights to services ... and some or most of the local support will disappear,'' said Dr. Lynette Henderson, a specialist in education for gifted children.

Advocates argue that intellectually gifted children can become bored, alienated and disconnected from schoolwork and their peers if they aren't sufficiently challenged. There are about 18,000 children who are considered intellectually gifted in Tennessee public schools, and most attend special programs like CLUE, which pull students out of regular classrooms for advanced work.

State education commissioner Faye Taylor urged the panel not to remove gifted programs from special education without a plan in place that will protect gifted education services and its funding and that preserves gifted students' rights to get education programs tailored to their needs.

"Not all gifted students are successful in school, because their unique needs are not being met in the regular classroom,'' Taylor said. "Until we have a plan that we are certain is in the best interest of the children, we should not move forward.''

Paula Wade may be reached at 615-242-2018 or wade@gomemphis.com.

March 1, 2002