35 Years of State Funding in Gifted Education: A Descriptive Quantitative Study

The State of the States in Gifted Education report is a biennial report that has been published by the Council of State Directors of Programs for the Gifted since 1985. The current study examines financial data from these reports relating to the funding of gifted and talented education (GATE) by state-level funding authorities descriptively. We found an increasing trend in GATE funding among the jurisdictions examined. The increases in funding were relatively modest when adjusted to 2021 real dollars. Further, force majeure events and macroeconomic conditions did not significantly impact GATE funding in jurisdictions that were examined. Finally, the increase in real dollar values of general education funding for K–12 from state allocation outpaced the increases in GATE funding for the same jurisdictions and period. Implication of our findings to practice and directions for future research has been included.