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 .  