By TIM CARPENTER
Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — The Kansas House adopted legislation last week to promote instruction in computer science among prospective and current teachers after abandoning a proposal requiring ninth-grade students to complete a computer science course to graduate from high school.
Rep. Steve Huebert, a Valley Center Republican, said the legislation was equally important as other bills considered by the House on legal problems related to COVID-19 and investing $1 billion in the state’s pension system.
“It’s about our kids, our grandkids,” said Huebert, sponsor of House Bill 2466. “About their education and jobs of the future.”
Under the bill forwarded on a 115-4 vote to the Kansas Senate, each high school in Kansas should offer at least one computer science course by start of the 2023-2024 academic year or file a report with the state explaining how that mandate would be met. No every district in the state offers computer science classes, Huebert said.
House Bill 2466 was unanimously endorsed by a House committee after removal of a provision requiring students to complete a computer science class to earn a high school diploma.
“I had a graduation requirement in this bill because it’s a road map to get us where we need to go,” Huebert said. “I also recognize we’re not close to having that discussion.”
The bill contemplated the House and Senate budget committees would earmark $1 million to the Kansas Board of Regents for $1,000 scholarships to college students who take a computer science course as part of a teaching degree program. In addition, $1 million would be devoted to Kansas Department of Education grants to teachers already in the profession to expand knowledge of computer science.
Rep. Jerry Stogsdill, D-Prairie Village, said the legislation was part of a solution to the expanding shortfall in educators in Kansas. The incentives for students and teachers to improve computer science skills ought to be more broadly applied to fill instructional gaps, he said.
“The state of Kansas faces a crisis as far as a teacher shortage,” Stogsdill said.