Gifted programs, depending on where in the country they are located, are deeply related to equity. Things have gotten better over the past decade even without their total elimination, but for the majority of people who are of age to be posting here, if they were in a gifted program, it likely is because they had parents who helped them study for the tests to get in by spending money. Once in said program, fundraising through the PTA is easier done because the average student is better off financially than at the nearby public school.

When I was growing up in NYC I was in a gifted program, and the average family was donating several thousand dollars a year per child. There were benefits such that if one child was in the program, other siblings automatically got in. This allowed us to have privately funded music program alongside privately funded teaching assistants in every classroom.