SB 806 - Under current law, when a sufficient number of children are determined to be gifted and their development requires programs or services beyond the level of those ordinarily provided in regular public school programs, school districts may establish special programs for such gifted children. Approval of such programs shall be made by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education based upon project applications submitted by July 15 of each year. Under this act, if 3% or more of students enrolled in a school district are identified as gifted, the district is required to establish a state-approved gifted program for gifted children. If a school district has an average daily attendance of 350 students or fewer, the district's gifted program shall not be required to provide services by a teacher certified to teach gifted education. Any teacher who provides gifted services through the program, and is not certified, shall annually participate in at least 6 hours of professional development focused on gifted development. These provisions shall apply to school years beginning on or after July 1, 2024.
Approval of such programs shall be made by the Department based upon project applications submitted at a time and in a form determined by the Department.
This act is similar to a provision in the truly agreed CCS#2/HCS/SS/SCS/SBs 681 & 662 (2022), a provision in the perfected HCS/HB 1750 (2022), a provision in HCS/HB 1753 (2022), the perfected HB 2366 (2022), and SB 645 (2020), and substantially similar to SCS/SB 151 (2021) and to provisions in the perfected HS/HCS/HB 306 (2021).
JAMIE ANDREWS