mr. chairman , i thank the gentleman for yielding to me . 
mr. chairman , i rise today urging the conference , when it meets , to restore funding to the javits gifted and talented program , which was unfortunately zeroed out in this bill . 
javits reaches a critical group of diverse gifted children who are not high income . 
in fact , they are low income , but have extraordinary abilities . 
in my home state of illinois , education for gifted kids has been cut completely out of the state 's budget . 
in response i developed my own tenth district laureates program as a way to challenge gifted students in my own district . 
the program has become a huge success , providing these students with behind-the-scenes access to top academic and cultural institutions in chicago and surrounding suburbs . 
and these gifted children were motivated by this unique opportunity . 
i think we must fund gifted education on a national level to allow millions of children across the country to have the same types of challenges our tenth district laureates enjoy . 
as the only federally funded national gifted program , grants provided through javits have provided 125 state and local education districts since its inception in 1989 , reaching 2 million gifted students nationwide . 
last year the program was funded at $ 11.1 million . 
it is a program particularly needed , given the low scores of americans on standard international math and science tests . 
positions in the field of science and engineering are growing at a rapid rate , yet the united states is facing a critical shortage in these areas . 
just one demonstration program funded by this grant , the project creating urban excellence in the bronx , resulted in a 20 percent improvement in math and science scores for all students of the entire school . 
i think we must invest in the future of our children , and i urge the conferees to restore funding for the javits gifted and talented program . 
