Reading to your kids is also the strongest predictor of later academic success that has been found of any action parents are able to choose to take. (Socio-economic status is the best predictor, but not completely within most people's control-- and correlates highly to reading to kids, anyway.) Not that academic success is everything, no matter how you choose to measure it, but I think it is worth encouraging.
Gifted programs tend not to get funded because everyone assumes the bright kids can take care of themselves, so in an overstressed budget, they get cut. In our district, kids who want to play sports have to pay extra fees to cover costs, especially transportation. I think the performing arts are funded by ticket sales and donations.
With the attacks the education system is routinely subjected to, I think it's stunning that it works as well as it does, actually.
