SALT LAKE CITY — West High School 10th grader Fikir Teklemedhin’s message Monday about the importance of computer science education — currently available at less than half of Utah’s public schools — was as succinct as it was powerful.
“By failing to make computer science courses available in every public school, we’re depriving children not only of potential passion but of opportunities to thrive in any field they choose,” Teklemedhin said.
“We cannot overlook the future of this generation and hope they stumble upon success.”
Her comments came at the same event where Utah Gov. Gary Herbert announced he will include a $10.2 million line item in his upcoming budget to boost computer science education in K-12 schools across the state.
The funding proposal follows a flurry of activity over the past year focused on providing computer skills to public school students after a group of Utah tech sector founders threw down a gauntlet at the Silicon Slopes tech summit in January. Tech leaders were motivated by concerns that — unlike Teklemedhin, who took advantage of opportunities at the schools she attended to immerse herself in computer science courses — most Utah students simply don’t have the option to take classes focused on developing computer skills.
State officials approved a master plan in August that marks the beginning of an effort to make computer science available to every Utah K-12 public school student by 2022.
That plan was constructed after a $5 million matching challenge dropped by a group of Utah tech entrepreneurs in January prodded lawmakers to pass and fund HB227, a proposal from the 2019 session that created the new four-year program.
While the $3.15 million in one-time funding approved by legislators left a potential $2 million in matching money on the table, the new funding proposed by Herbert — should it be approved by legislators in the 2020 session — would provide a significant boost to computer science curriculum, which is currently available in less than half of Utah schools.
Pluralsight co-founder and CEO Aaron Skonnard was one of five Utah tech founders who each committed $1 million in personal funds back in January to match what the state put forward in computer science funding in the 2019 session. Following Herbert’s funding announcement Monday, Skonnard said he, along with Qualtrics founder and CEO Ryan Smith, InsideSales (now Xant) founder Dave Elkington and Domo founder Josh James would now fund a $4 million Computer Science Field of Interest fund that will, along with state funding, work to make computer skills education opportunities widely accessible. The fund will be overseen by the nonprofit Community Foundation of Utah.
Skonnard, whose company specializes in providing cloud-based education courses for tech professionals, said the effort was necessary to help address the current lack of computer science education opportunities for most of Utah’s public school students.
“Why is this so important?” Skonnard asked the audience at the Capitol press conference. “Because today there is not equal opportunity for our children here in the state to learn computer science. It does not exist.
“Only about 40% of our schools have any sort of computer science class. Computer science has now become a form of literacy like reading, math, all forms of science. We have to give our children the opportunity to learn it.”
While Skonnard and his tech colleagues committed to matching the Legislature’s 2019 funding for statewide computer science dollar-for-dollar, the new fund represents contributions that amount to almost $1 million more than legislators approved last year. Skonnard said he expects even more money will flow into the fund.
“We have many other companies and individual families that want to get involved,” Skonnard said. “We’re all invested in the success of this. ... We wouldn’t be donating our own personal funds if we didn’t believe it would work.”
Skonnard said he spoke with Teklemedhin before Monday’s announcement and heard that her interest in computer science came from being exposed to the topic at school. He said it’s exactly that kind of opportunity that he and his tech colleagues are hoping to accelerate with their private donations.
“This is important,” Skonnard said. “To create equality within Utah so that everyone, regardless of their gender, their race, their socio-economic background can have access to high quality computer science education at all levels ... across all parts of Utah, city, rural Indian reservation, everyone.”
A group of fifth graders from Murray’s Horizon Elementary were working in the Capitol rotunda ahead of Monday’s announcement and each of the students have been working on coding projects since the beginning of the school year. The class’ teacher, Merissa Graves, said computer science content will become a regular part of the Horizon curriculum next fall, but her students have been working on special projects in the current term using kits provided by Lego.
The work, she said, has provided her students with exposure to more than just computer coding.
“I think that doing this work is helping build a bigger set of skills,” Graves said. “Critical thinking, perseverance and working in a collaborative environment is all a part of the experience. Computer science is providing that outlet and giving them a chance to fail, learn from it and work toward a solution.”
While Herbert’s upcoming budget proposal is subject to review and approval by the Utah Legislature, Utah House Speaker Brad Wilson, R-Kaysville said he and his colleagues will “take the governor’s proposal very seriously.”
“We’ll see where we go from here,” Wilson said.