WELCOME
The Arizona Association for Gifted and Talented (AAGT) is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization of parents, educators, and community members working together to advocate for education that meets the academic prerequisites of gifted children and to better meet the unique needs of our gifted and talented students in Arizona.
AAGT is a state affiliate of the National Association of Gifted Children (NAGC).
AAGT is a resource for the information and guidance necessary for parents, teachers, administrators, counselors, community stakeholders and legislators to develop and support gifted education in our state. All of us share in the challenge to meet the needs of Arizona’s gifted children with limited funds for their education and development.
AAGT provides an annual conference for parents, educators and community members as well as an annual Parent Institute. In addition, AAGT offers scholarships for teachers of the gifted and scholarships for educational opportunities for gifted students. AAGT provides continuous support to local affiliate chapters.
Information on these opportunities can be found on the website.
To register, please visit the following link…
https://aagt.wildapricot.org/event-3293660
Advocacy and Legislative Update
We need your help to keep gifted education in the state budget! For the first time in nearly a decade, gifted education was funded for the 2018-19 budget! We have our incredible bill sponsors, Heather Carter, Kate Brophy-McGee, and Sean Bowie to thank. As you know, districts and charters are required by law to meet the needs of their gifted students. During the great recession, the funding for this mandate was eliminated.
Last year’s budget included a one-time appropriation of $1 million for gifted programs, teacher training, and identification. While this was certainly not full-funding (fully funding the mandate would cost $5 million), it was an important and necessary first step. AAGT is spending the current legislative session advocating for fully-funding the gifted mandate and demonstrating to the legislature the value in funding gifted education.
Can you help? As we approach the negotiations for the 2019-20 state budget we need to raise our voices once again for gifted education.
Would you please email your legislator today and ask them to join our bipartisan coalition to support gifted education?
You can find your legislator here.