[UAGCNews] Legislation update

[T Lane]

Hello to all of you!
The last week has certainly been a roller coaster up on the Hill.
With all the amazing attention going to HB 266 (the IB
legislation), I thought you also might want to know that HB 329
(Project RESCUE) has been working its way through the system.
Here is the update for both bills:

HB 266: IB Legislation
Because of the wonderful press and the hundreds of emails from
students, parents and teachers, as you know, the IB legislation
was saved. Word up on the Hill is that this bill would not have
been funded at all had it not risen to this level of attention.
So, on some weird level, we owe a debt of gratitude to the three
people who voted against it. Right now, there is a new "Omnibus"
bill (SB 2) that has been put together tonight that "hosts" the
IB legislation and funds it at $100,000 in ongoing money.  IB
will now be added to the Accelerated Learning Line Item and will
now be an existing program.  On another interesting note, just
tonight, they amended the bill to raise the overall line item by
$300,000 ( $100,000 for the original funding of IB) and #200,000
to be split between AP and G/T. 

HB 329: Project RESCUE
This project has also taken an up and down ride during the past
week.  Because of the funding shortfall, it has been cut
significantly from our original idea of $5 million with some
being one time monies and some monies being ongoing, to now only
ongoing funding, and not our $1 million in ongoing but $500,000.
Like the IB legislation, Project RESCUE is also now housed in SB
2.

Both bills will make it through the session before it ends but
there is no telling exactly when it will be voted on. If you're
interested in following it, you can do that by going to
www.le.state.ut.us and putting SB 2 in the search box on the
right side.


Even though we have not ended up with nearly what we wished, this
year, we have made huge strides in increasing funding for gifted
and talented programs throughout the state. In some ways, I will
be so glad when Wed. at midnight arrives and I can have a life
again but in other ways because I have enjoyed being involved in
helping change things for our kids. I will miss this process. 

For those of you unfamiliar with Project RESCUE, see the attached
brochure we used to inform legislators about it.
Becky

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rebecca H. Odoardi
Director, Gifted and Talented Programs
PO Box 588
Farmington, UT 84025-0588
(801) 402-5111
Fax:  (801) 402-5195
email: rodoardi at dsdmail.net

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