Grassley Continues to Work for Education


Iowa Senator Introduces Legislation for Gifted and Talented Students


, DC - Sen. Chuck Grassley today introduced legislation that gives states the needed resources to provide educational services to the three million gifted and talented students in the nation.

The bipartisan Gifted and Talented Students Education Act provides block grants to state agencies, based on the state's population of children ages 5-18 for the preceding academic year. The grants are to be used in several broad spending areas outlined in the bill, with the decisions as to where the money is ultimately used lying in the hands of the local school districts.

"Our nation's gifted and talented students are among our great untapped resources," said Grassley. "With this legislation, we are helping states and local school districts provide a challenging education so these student's particular gifts can flourish and be fully realized."

Each state education agency is required to distribute at least 88 percent of the funds to schools to supplement funds currently being spent on gifted and talented programs. Each state must also make a commitment by matching 20 percent of the federal funds.

The spending areas where the grants must be used include:

?Developing and implementing programs to address state and local needs for teacher training.
?Making materials and services available through state regional education service center, universities, colleges, or other entities.
?Providing direct educational services and materials to gifted and talented students.
?Supporting innovative approaches and curricula used by local educational agencies, individual schools, or consortia of schools or local educational agencies.
?Providing challenging, high-level course work to individual students or groups of students in schools and school districts that do not have the resources to otherwise provide the courses.

Currently, the only federal support for gifted and talented students is through the research based Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Program.

"We must find and challenge our gifted and talented students and we must help our schools with resources to teach our future," said Grassley.

The bill is being cosponsored by Senators Thad Cochran of Mississippi, Max Baucus of Montana, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Max Cleland of Georgia, Mike DeWine of Ohio, Paul Wellstone of Minnesota, Olympia Snowe of Maine, Tim Johnson of South Dakota, Jim Bunning of Kentucky.