Probably a funding issue. That is how it is in Louisiana. The state provides additional funding to special needs students-which by law includes gifted. Take them out of special ed and the extra funding goes away. Not all US states do it that way, heck not all US states provide extra funding for gifted. But most do. Not very much though. Where the state stipend for a special ed student might be 50 to 100% of the standard state stipend, the gifted students bring in maybe 10%. But it is enough to get most districts to provide some form of services.
I started reading this thread and maybe I am making mountains out of mole hills but I really took offense at the “tards” term. My 19yr old daughter rode a bus to school, and it was the same high school I went to and she is diagnosed as mentally retarded. It takes a minute for me to even use the term, but it is what it is. For years I have worked to minimize the STING we both feel when someone uses that term in a hurtful manner towards her, and then I read something like that and I wonder why I’m even trying.
Sure, before my daughter was born the stereotype of the “yellow bus” students wasn’t as personal. I might have even laughed at reading it, but just as forums allows us to post response I am going to speak up and let my opinion fall where it may.
It has nothing to do with “lightening up”
Maybe it calls for a little compassion
Whah whah whah. The use of an apostrophe in English is a perfectly accepted indicator of contracting a word. For example, “I was workin’ yesterday.” So if you read in a logical, disassociated manner, “'tards” is shortening “retards” which is itself shortening “retarded persons” for which there is no single word noun form in English. “Retardation” is a perfectly accurate, consise description for all manner of physical and mental maladies, and as such my use of it is completely neutral and has nothing to do with compassion. If you’re a literate person, then you’ll find that deeper meanings are derived from context. If I were laughing and pointing as your daughter in a loud an obnoxious way (“Hey, look at that 'tard!”) then I would would be begging for your foregiveness right now. But I defy you to spot a negative implication (not inference) in what I said. :rolleyes:
believe it or not, people who deal with and care about “tards” use the term. sure its an insult when used intentionally that way. guess what, so are all the other terms that were once used to describe what we now call mentally handicapped (idiot and moron are 2 that come to mind plus the already mentioned spastic)
when you need a term to describe something or someone stupid you use one that people recognize. I frequently use the term “special” when describing someone doing something stupid.
And normal kids now find it insulting to be called special. Where does it end. 
This reminds me of a piece they did in The Onion a few years back headlined “Very Special Forces Headed to Iraq”. They flew in the short transport aircraft. 
Can’t remember the name of the comedienne who when interacting with her audience would ask, “When you went to school did you ride the big or the short school bus?” This was about '97.
I’ll answer this and the OP in one. I went to a very small primary school here in Sydney for the years 1963-64 (I was their 27th pupil ever) and the school bus was indeed a short bus, as that’s all we needed for the few pupils who didn’t walk, take a government bus, or get driven by their parents. We didn’t use that phrase per se (it was called the spastic bus), but the meme that small bus riders=mentally handicapped was very much alive here way back then.
From The Onion: Someday, I Will Drive This Short Bus Myself
Since we can’t seem to find a definitive answer for the OP, I’ll close this before it gets out of hand.
But, I will make a comment:
Much as I warned a poster in a thread some time ago for using the word Jap, I would caution anyone using the word “tard.”
While you may have a perfectly valid reason(to you) for using it, someone else might be offended. If you work in an institutional setting where you deal with retarded persons all day, and the nomenclature in your bailiwick is to call them “tards” then I have no comment.
But, on a public message board, much like speaking in a public gathering, using slang words which CAN be read as derogatory by some, is probably not a good idea.
samclem