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First, test if goal "A" is met, since the board's first responsibility <br /> is to meet legal mandates. <br /> Consider the following: <br /> ** Why is this program entitled "Enrichment Resource" and why does our <br /> school system not seek to formally identify any of the students in the program <br /> as "academically gifted." <br /> Try to thoroughly and accurately answer the above by keeping in mind <br /> additional relevant points and asking additional relevant questions, including: <br /> * This "Enrichment Resource" program,is a part of this school system's <br /> overall "Three Tier Model for the Academically Gifted." <br /> * Under state law, students who meet specific criteria (established by <br /> the State Department of Public Instruction) are considered "academically <br /> gifted" and are therefore entitled under state law to certain rights within <br /> the public education system and to certain state funds. (It is acknowledged <br /> here that caps on N.C. General Assembly funding mean state money is not <br /> always provided for every identified child, but that the state requires <br /> these identified children be provided esecial services regardless. Therefore <br /> it may become necessary for local school systems to provide these services <br /> with local funds, and in fact that is necessary in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro <br /> school system.) <br /> * CONVERSELY, under state law, UNTIL a student is formally identified <br /> as qualified for special services (in this case as "academically gifted") , <br /> a student is NOT entitled under state law to any special rights or services <br /> or any state funding for "special services," and the local school system <br /> is NOT legally obligated to provide any special services. (This is the state's <br /> safeguard against misuse of state money.) <br /> What this means locally is that even if the state removed its funding <br /> caps and allowed local systems to receive money for every identified academi- <br /> cally gifted child, our system couldn't qualify for a penny for our third <br /> and fourth-graders until those students were formally identified and reported <br /> to the state. <br /> It also means that this system can't spend whatever state money for <br /> which it now (or in-the future) qualifies on the 3rd-4th grade program <br /> because those children are not formally identified and reported to the state. <br /> This doesn't suggest we are presently misusing any funds because it is <br /> obvious that the present funding caps and the number of "academically gifted" <br /> students identified in the system enable this system to spend state funds <br /> in grades higher than 3rd & 4th. <br /> Interestingly, some other local school systems (and finance Director <br /> Waynes Watts says the Orange County School System is an example) , go ahead <br />