STATEHOUSE (Jan. 30, 2018) – A bill that would require public and charter schools to offer students a computer science course as a one-semester elective at least once each school year recently passed out of the Senate by a vote of 48-1, said State Sen. Jeff Raatz (R-Richmond).
Senate Bill 172, authored by Raatz, would require each K-12 school in Indiana to offer a computer science class to its students by 2021. High schools would be required to offer at least one specific computer science course, and for grades K-8, the computer science standards that are in place for students must be included in the science curriculum at some point along the education path.
“Offering these courses will help to better prepare our students for today’s job and college requirements,” Raatz said. “These courses not only give students the foundation of computer science technology, but also help students develop logical and analytical thinking.”
According to the Indiana Department of Education, only 222 out of 525 Indiana high schools offered at least one computer science course in the 2016-2017 school year.
SB 172 is included in Gov. Holcomb’s Next Level Agenda and establishes the Next Level Computer Science Grant Program and the Next Level Computer Science Fund to award grants in order to implement teacher professional development programs for training in teaching computer science.
The bill now moves to the House of Representatives for further consideration.
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Contact: Lauren Beatty, Press Secretary
Lauren.Beatty@iga.in.gov
317-234-9221
Savannah Kerstiens, Press Secretary Intern
Savannah.Kerstiens@iga.in.gov
