If you're just now learning about the shocking changes proposed to educational funding and gifted program funding in North Carolina, you are probably thinking, "How can I prevent this?"

Contacting your representatives individually can make a big impact, as detailed in our last blog post. Organized advocacy can be even more impactful. To that end, PAGE is eager to form an advocacy committee to help positively influence educational policy affecting our students. 

Even if you feel you don't have expertise in this area, we urge you to join us. We so often hear from parents and educators who see what gifted students need and the ways that reduced resources harm our kiddos. We're waiting for someone to do something and realizing: we're the someones. Please join us, even if you only have a few minutes a month to spare. We'd love to have you, support you, and be your community!

Volunteer - Details: https://www.wakepage.org/volunteer.html

We would like to ensure you have seen the request relating to the proposed legislation in North Carolina relating to educational policy and funding (NC AGT is the parent organization for PAGE of Wake County)
https://tinyurl.com/attack-on-gifted-funding

From the NC AGT post linked above:
(This budget would result in:)
"Elimination of entire programs and services from some communities (e.g., low-income, rural, underrepresented racial and ethnic groups). Entire districts could now receive $0 from the state for AIG.
Reduction/elimination of talent development programs. If only the top 4% of students in the state are identified, then many currently identified students will be forced to be "degifted". There will be no funding to support services for them.
Reduction of identified gifted students from 163,115 (April 2022) to 55,128 out of the 1.3 million students currently enrolled in NC schools"

Other articles on this topic (with a broader focus on educational policy- not limited to gifted educational policy/ funding):
https://governor.nc.gov/.../state-emergency-public...
https://www.newsobserver.com/.../article275659111.html
https://www.ednc.org/2023-01-23-nc-legislature-education.../
https://www.ncleg.gov/Com.../CommitteeInfo/HouseStanding/166

​Disagree with the proposed legislation? 
Please Act Now:
Contact your legislator to:

• Ask: Why shouldn’t schools have local control over who they identify as AIG?
  
• Ask: How will advanced students who are not in the state's top 4% receive appropriate services?
  
• Ask: Will my child (who has already been ID’d) be “degifted” by the state legislature? Overruling their teacher and school?
  
• Share your child’s story about how gifted and talented services have made a difference in their life
  
• Tell them to remove section 7.2a and 7.2b from HB 259 and keep the current AIG funding and model in place.
  
• Invite your representative to your community to have discussions about the importance of Gifted & Talented services
  

You can click the first link below to find out who your representative is, and/or, if you prefer to contact the entire membership of the education committee, you can find them at the second link below.
Find your Representatives
Senate Ed Committee (Standing)
Senators By County

Update:
Governor Roy Cooper has declared that public education in the state of North Carolina is facing a state of emergency. Visit his website to learn more.

Check it out here: ​https://rss.com/podcasts/ncagtpodcast/937666/

Thank you to annuity.org for giving PAGE permission to share this useful article!

Teaching kids about money when they’re young lays the foundation for responsible money management later in life. Children whose parents emphasize the importance of financial literacy and encourage them to spend and save thoughtfully develop a healthy perspective on money.

• Written By Kim Borwick, Edited By Emily Miller, Financially Reviewed By Peggy James, CPA
  
• Updated: May 8, 2023, 6 min read time, features 8 Cited Research Articles

 
It’s never too early to begin teaching your kids about money. But doing so is not as straightforward as you might assume. Some parents don’t feel confident enough in their own knowledge of financial matters to be comfortable teaching their kids about money. Others believe it’s inappropriate to burden young children with conversations about money or think, mistakenly, that children are too young to understand financial concepts.

In fact, researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison studied the behaviors and attitudes of fourth and fifth graders who were exposed to financial education and concluded that “younger students can learn financial topics and that learning is associated with improved attitudes and behaviors which, if sustained, may result in increased financial capability later in life.”
Beth Koblinger, author of the New York Times bestseller “Make Your Kid a Money Genius (Even If You’re Not),” wrote an article for NPR’s Making Sen$e, in which she described her encounters with parents of all economic backgrounds during a recent book tour. She realized that all parents, whether very wealthy or middle-income earners, had the same questions:

• When should I start talking to my kid about money?
• How do I teach the value of dollar?

Click here to read the rest of the article on annuity.org!

We invite you to fill out our poll seeking opinions, ideas, and all things Super Saturday. We are hoping to re-start these sessions (which have been paused since COVID hit) and we're eager to get going again. Your opinion is invaluable in ensuring the sessions are just the right fit.

CLICK TO FILL OUT POLL (Depending on your device, this may appear incorrectly on a phone or directly embedded in the blog.)

Direct link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeymxQ7nKuae0CQZwqC0qUSB_twiYAaEkEyf3WXSL1DHcuWkw/viewform?usp=share_link
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