Funding, Grants & Awards

CEOs, Governors Ask Congress To Commit $250 Million for K-12 Computer Science

• By Michael Hart
• 04/26/16

A coalition of business leaders, governors and educators has called on the United States Congress to provide funding that will give every student in America the opportunity to learn computer science.

U.S. corporate CEOs are backing up their commitment by offering nearly $50 million in private contributions in order to increase access to computer science.

Google has promised to provide $10 million in new funding to be spent by the end of next year and Microsoft has committed $10 million to broaden access to K-12 computer science. Infosys Foundation USA has committed to $5 million in grants to nonprofits that advance computer science education.

In addition, BlackRock, AT&T, Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, Jeff Bezos, Omidyar Network and others have pledged $23 million in contributions to Code.org, a nonprofit dedicated to expanding access and increasing participation among women and students of color in coding.

On April 26, CEOs of Fortune 100 companies and 27 governors from both parties, along with K12 education leaders, sent Congress a letter noting that computer science is increasingly foundational to 21^st-century careers.

"Ninety percent of parents want their children to have access to computer science education at school, and teachers agree," the letter read in part. "Despite this groundswell, three-quarters of U.S. schools do not offer meaningful computer science courses. This bipartisan issue cannot be addressed without growing the federal budget."

In the letter organized by the Computer Science Education Coalition in partnership with Code.org, the coalition urged Congress to provide school districts with $250 million to enhance computer science education in schools.