President Obama Pledges $4 billion toward computer science in schools
The White House is not only relying on laws to produce computer science education a priority in America. President Obama has established a Computer Science for A Many Great initiatives that give $4 billion to states in capital to expand computer science in K12 schools through a combination of better class materials, partnerships, and teacher training. The move unlocks $135 million in capital from government organizations, also sends another $100 million right to school districts and gets further cooperation from both local governments as well as tech leaders.
Some of those leaders include businesses that have already assured support for the President’s educational initiatives. Apple, Cartoon Network, Code.org, Qualcomm, Microsoft, Salesforce, and Facebook are widening their schooling efforts, investing in plans or both to help enhance computer science in the nation.
However, the effort, at least, handles one of the core issues head-on: getting computer science into schools in the first place. Nearly three-quarters of schools go without any CS applications, and 22 states do not accept these courses for credit toward a high school diploma. If the additional funding functions as intended, it’ll get CS courses into more schools and help create a generation of children that understand the best way to code before they reach school.
