Grapevine-Colleyville ISD Gifted and Talented Program Inequity in Title I Schools

What cuts did GCISD make?

GCISD made cuts to interventionist positions, adjusted the role of the GT Specialists to include new intervention duties (which will come at the loss of GT Enrichment time), and proposed potential changes to how GT pull-out services are delivered (including proposing to combing classes). These cuts and potential changes are only occurring at the Title I campuses.

Why did GCISD make these cuts?

GCISD is no longer eligible for certain Title I, Part A grant funds (totaling $508,000) — determined based on the percentage of economically disadvantaged students in GCISD. Due to the large number of out-of-district transfer students (mainly at iUniversity Prep, the virtual school), the percentage of economically disadvantaged students dropped below the 5% threshold. GCISD accepted ~1800 out-of-district transfer students last year and only 40 of those students are considered economically disadvantaged. 

Is GCISD aware of how the grants are calculated?

GCISD indicated that the May 2025 correspondence was the first time the funding calculation had been provided to GCISD. Per TEA, the statutory funding formula is part of ESSA, which was enacted in 2015. The letter on May 20th referred GCISD to the TEA ESSA Funding Reference Manual that was most recently updated on February 2024. The manual includes a section on page 4 titled “Charter LEAs and Inter-District Transfer Data” and explains how those students are included in the calculation of Title I grants. 

Regardless of whether GCISD was unaware or is failing to acknowledge that they were not monitoring the impact transfer students would have on the Title I grant eligibility, GCISD should not be punishing the students at Title I campuses whose supports are being cut due to the district not monitoring the transfer impact.

Should GCISD cut interventionist positions at Title I campuses? 

No. Regardless of interventionist positions being Title I funded, the loss of Title I funds is not because GCISD has fewer Title I students in its geographic area. Rather, by allowing these cuts, GCISD is prioritizing students who live outside GCISD over providing needed support to students who live within GCISD. GCISD should reallocate funds from iUniversity Prep profits to cover the interventionist and paraprofessional positions at the Title I campuses that were cut. 

What the interventionist cuts mean for students?

Eliminating interventionist positions will reduce the amount of time available for providing intervention services to students who need support the most. And GT Specialists do not have the same training as those who were in the positions eliminated. So GCISD will be providing less effective intervention services. 

What do the cuts to GT mean? 

Per district communications, proposed changes to GT services are at the principal’s discretion and include combining grade levels for GT pull-out services (at 3 of the 4 targeted Title I campuses). GT Enrichment to non-identified GT students (who are on the cusp of being GT identified) will also be reduced and, in some instances (such as during STAAR prep), fully eliminated. 

Are Enrichment and Intervention the same thing? 

No. GCISD’s Director of Advanced Academics confirmed that enrichment and intervention are distinct and unique services and that using the phrase “enrichment/intervention” in communications to GCISD parents could be misleading. Rather, the purpose was to identify that each principal will have discretion to make adjustments as to the percent of time enrichment services and intervention support are provided by the GT Specialists on the Title I campuses. 

Is GT a Title I funded program?

No.

So, why was GT targeted? 

GCISD claimed there were fewer identified GT students on the Title I campuses. However, by reducing GT Enrichment opportunities on the same campuses, the number of GT identified students will decline further. Also, every grade in GCISD has at least 4 GT identified students (the threshold for GT Pullout services). As such, each grade is entitled, under the law, to the same number of minutes regardless of whether there are 4 students or 15 students in the GT pull-out class. Some non-Title I campuses have enough GT identified students in some grades to require two separate classes. However, at the Forum, GCISD parents stated that this is not consistent from campus-to-campus with some non-Title one pull-out groups including more than 20 students. 

GCISD also identified the additional planning minutes built into GT Specialists’ schedules. However, the communication did not acknowledge the additional tasks (GT testing, data entry, Kindergarten Screening, and many more) that are required to be completed during the GT Specialists’ planning time. 

Can GT students transfer from a Title I campuses to a campus where the delivery of GT services has not changed?

Most likely, no. In 2025, GCISD passed a policy that begins the elimination for options to transfers to other campuses within the district. 

Why does GCISD continue to bring up that GCISD is not required, by law, to offer GT Pull-Out?

We are unsure. The issue is not whether GCISD is providing a service it is not required to provide. Rather, the issue regarding the current cuts has to do with GCISD changing the quality and delivery of GT services at only the Title I campuses. The changes should be made at every campus or at no campus. 

How did parents learn about the cuts? 

Word of mouth. Much like many of the prior cuts (especially to programs at Title I campuses) including to the two-way dual language programs, science engagement special, Leader In Me, or Scholastic book fairs, GCISD never communicated the latest cuts at the Title I campuses to parents until after parents learned about the cuts through the grapevine. Any inaccuracies or misinformation that GCISD alleges were spread in the community are a direct result of GCISD’s failure to keep families informed in a timely manner. 

Is GCISD going to make changes to iUniversity Prep transfer process?

No. Instead, at the June 9th Budget Workshop, Dr. Schnautz advised he was confident that the district could continue growing the iUniversity Prep enrollment (including targeted growth from 1384 students to 1519 students). While we appreciate the need to generate revenue, this growth should be strategic and should not come at the expense of students who live within the GCISD geographic boundaries. 

What is the current financial situation in GCISD?

GCISD has had a deficit budget for more than four years. This is due in part to state funding inadequacies but is also due to decisions made at the local level by the GCISD Board of Trustees and administration. These include lowering the tax rate when we had a deficit budget, paying more than $504,000 to the board’s separate counsel since June 2022 (who was hired in addition to the district’s own counsel), spending money on unnecessary lawsuits to appeal decisions about producing records the AG said GCISD must release to the public, buying matching trustee apparel, etc. GCISD has also eliminated programs that increased the basic allotment for the students in those programs. All of these are district level decisions. 

Wasn’t the VATRE supposed to stop cuts?

That is what we were told. We feel blackmailed by the information that was presented when the VATRE was promoted. 

What can we do now? 

The next most crucial date regarding these changes is June 16 — the date the GCISD Board will meet to adopt the budget for 2025-26. The board has the authority - and should - vote no to any budget that fails to reallocate transfer revenue to cover the cost of the interventionist positions on the Title I campuses. Every board member who votes for a budget that does not reallocate funds from out-of-district transfers means that those board members are prioritizing one group of students over another.

You should email the board and administration and ask your friends and neighbors to email the board and demand that they reallocate funds. Parents also need to speak at the board meeting. The meeting is at 5:30 pm and the online sign-up for public comment ends at 4pm. 

What if the Board of Trustees approves the budget without re-allocation of funds?

Every board member who votes for a budget without requiring a reallocation of funds, is voting to provide resources to students who do not live in GCISD at the expense of Title I students who do. However, if this issue is not resolved through the budget process, additional steps can include pursuing a grievance, seeking an injunction from the courts to prevent implementation of these changes, and moving to seek other civil remedies available through lawsuits. As GCISD taxpayers and parents, we hope to avoid having to pursue a grievance or initiating a lawsuit because this will require GCISD to pay an attorney to defend which will further take money from our schools. However, if GCISD refuses to provide truly equitable services to every student in GCISD, we are prepared to take the next necessary steps. 

Why is it urgent that parents act now?  

Parents cannot wait until August to to see how the Master Schedule is adjusted. At the Forum, Title I parents spoke to their past experience with changes to the two-way dual language program as that program is being phased out. The district did not keep its word to those families. And continues to fail to communicate with them. Instead those families have stressed that parents must act to prevent the changes from being implemented instead.