House Passes Governor’s Computer Coding Class
by February 5, 2015 2:43 pm 132 views
The Arkansas House of Representatives voted 99-0 to pass Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s signature education proposal requiring computer science to be offered at all Arkansas high schools and charter schools.
House Bill 1183 by Rep. Bill Gossage, R-Ozark, a retired educator, would also create a temporary task force to explore avenues for the computer science course to be offered. Districts can create their own classes or take advantage of the Arkansas Department of Education’s Virtual Arkansas course. The usual fee of $2,500 charged to districts to offer a Virtual Academy course will be waived.
Hutchinson has allocated $5 million to the initiative.
Hutchinson made the proposal a central issue during his campaign for governor, illustrating it by featuring his granddaughter Ella Beth in a television commercial.
Gossage argued in presenting the bill that participation in computer coding courses has been falling, including among female students, and few Hispanic and African-American students take those courses. No state requires students to take computer science to graduate, while every student in China must take a computer science course, Gossage said.
“Our students currently are consumers of technology,” Gossage said. “Coding and programming makes them be creators of technology.”