STATEHOUSE (May 3, 2018) — Gov. Eric Holcomb today ceremonially signed into law legislation sponsored by State Rep. Holli Sullivan (R-Evansville) expanding student access to computer science classes in Indiana schools.
Sullivan said there is a vast need for employees in the computer science industry, with more than 8,000 job openings statewide. This new law ensures computer science education is offered to Hoosier students and establishes the Next Level Computer Science Grant Program to help local schools train teachers to instruct these courses. Sullivan said by tasking all public and charter schools with offering a computer science course as a one-semester elective at least once each school year by 2021, Hoosiers can begin developing skills needed in high-demand industries.
“Sometimes when we think of computer science, we think all of those jobs are in the tech industry, but over 67 percent of computer science jobs are in agriculture, banking and manufacturing,” Sullivan said. “Making sure each school in Indiana offers an elective in computer science and establishing a fund for training our teachers will help us meet some of these growing job demands in the future.”
Sullivan said statistics show that students introduced to computer science in their K-12 schooling are more likely to pursue computer science degrees in college.
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Rep. Holli Sullivan (R-Evansville) represents House District 78,
which includes portions of Vanderburgh and Warrick counties.
