San José Unified School District

History of GATE Legislation

The State of California first became committed to programs for the gifted with the passage of legislation defining a mentally gifted minor as a “minor” enrolled in a public primary or secondary school of this state who demonstrates such general intellectual capacity as to place him within the top 2 percent of all students having achieved his school grade throughout the state. Legislation affecting the gifted program, AB494, became effective in 1989. Among its provisions is the option for broadening identification criteria into areas of artistic talent, leadership skills, and creative thinking. It restructured the bases for distributing categorical funds to those California districts that maintain a program for gifted and talented students. New California legislation, AB2313, enacted in 2001, further defines the GATE program in San Jose Unified. See the State GATE Standards summarized on page 7 of this handbook.