Three ORegon bills

Friends:

'Three bills that will be considered in the Oregon Legislature on March 21:

--Senate Bill 595 sets aside one percent of the State School fund for TAG services.  The funding is divided--half to districts for services, distributed based on each district's enrollment, one fourth to Education Service Districts for training, technical support and regional services focused on rural districts, one fourth to the State Department of Education for technical support, training, and grants.  Overall, SB 595 would allocate roughly $50 million per year for TAG statewide or approximately $100 per identified TAG students (depending on how many students a district identifies).

. Senate Bill 596 requires the state to collect and report qualitative TAG data and data on achievement gains by ability for all students

. Senate Bill 736 creates a study of ways to increase access to advanced instruction. We have drafted some amendments to postpone implementation of SB 595 for one year and to clarify language in SB 596

You can find more information with links to the original bills (as introduced) here https://tagpdx.org/advocacy.htm . The additions to existing law that are made by the bills are shown in BOLD.

I am sharing this because I think one percent for TAG is a reasonable funding request for every state, but if anyone is interested in testifying as an expert on the need for/benefit from  TAG supports, please let me know.  I'd be more than happy to chat about the bills and the process.  The committee will accept both written testimony and virtual testmony.   . 

Margaret

Margaret DeLacy
President
Oregon Association for Talented and Gifted
president@oatag.org

www.OATAG.org