CÁRDENAS INTRODUCES COMPUTER SCIENCE EDUCATION BILLS
CÁRDENAS INTRODUCES COMPUTER SCIENCE EDUCATION BILLS
(Washington, DC) – Today, U.S. Rep. Tony Cárdenas (D-San Fernando Valley, Calif.) reintroduced two pieces of legislation to help encourage greater STEM education for American students.
“We have a responsibility to our children to not only ensure they learn about history, but that they are ready for the future,” said Cárdenas. “These two pieces of commonsense legislation will help our students learn the critical Science, Technology, Engineering and Math skills, including computer science, that will be in demand by employers for years to come. This education will build their earning potential while it improves America’s economy.”
Cárdenas was joined introducing H.R. 2056, the Computer Science Career Education Act of 2015, by 6 cosponsors, Reps. Cartwright, Lawrence, DelBene, Honda, Slaughter and Fattah.
The Computer Science Career Education Act will award grants to a consortium between State or local educational agencies, institutions of higher education, non-profit organizations and employers with a documented need in the computer science sector.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, by 2020 half of STEM jobs will be in computing and there will be 1.4 million jobs in computer science. Currently, only 400,000 students are enrolled in a computer science degree program.
Despite these employment opportunities, most states do not offer computer science courses as part of their core curriculum in math and science. Instead, they have focused on offering technology literacy or computing application courses. While these are critical, the overall result is that there will not be enough students with a computer science degree to fill the needs of employers.
Cárdenas also introduced H.R. 2057, the Computer Science in STEM Act of 2015, joined by three of his colleagues, Reps. Lawrence, Rangel and Polis.
The Computer Science in STEM Act will help equip children with the skills they need to be successful in the 21st century workforce by strengthening computer science education for students from kindergarten through grade twelve. The bill would provide a framework within which state educational agencies and computer science teachers have the resources they need to improve computer science education for their students.
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