Richmond Area Students in Attendance as White House Announces $200M a Year for Computer Science Education

25 September, 2017

Richmond Area Students in Attendance as White House Announces $200M a Year for Computer Science Education

More than a dozen Richmond-area students were on hand Monday as the White House announced a $200 million per year commitment to computer science education in U.S. schools.

“Unlike similar proposals in previous years, today’s action delivers funding to schools, immediately. Fourteen students from CodeRVA in Richmond and Chesterfield County traveled to Washington to witness the announcement. Besides expanding access to computer science in schools that previously didn’t teach it, the funds promise to increase participation by women and underrepresented minorities.

This funding will jumpstart efforts to ensure every student in every school has the opportunity to learn computer science as part of a well-rounded education. For advocates of increased access and diversity in CS, this is the culmination of years of momentum that began in classrooms, spread to entire school districts, and won the support of business leaders and elected officials globally.

At a time when computing careers are the best-paying, fastest-growing, and largest sector of new wages, impacting every industry in every state, it is no longer acceptable for our schools to limit access to this foundational subject. Our children deserve a level playing field — the opportunity to learn computer science shouldn’t be limited by the color of a student’s skin or the neighborhood she lives in.

The UK, Japan, Ireland, and a dozen other countries have announced plans to add computer science to their school curriculum. It is unacceptable for the U.S. to lag behind. The country that invented the personal computer, the Internet, and the smartphone should also lead in computer science.