Our nation unites behind computer science

Yesterday, was a special moment for me, and for all of us working for computer science education. 

We live in divided times, in an election year where debates about opportunity, inequality, security, and economic growth are gripping a country that feels divided to the core. But on this issue, we stand united. Computer science offers opportunity in the face of inequality, it is the driver of economic growth as the largest and fastest-growing sector of wage growth across industries, and its impact on cybersecurity is even key to our national security.  

Yesterday the CEOs of America's largest companies joined 28 governors - from both parties - and our top K-12 leaders, in an unprecedented union. When we look back, this will be remembered as the moment computer science won.

Don't get me wrong, there's plenty left to do, it's not at all "mission accomplished." But despite their differences, our country's leadership is now aligned on this issue, across the political spectrum, across industries, across schools, and across state lines. 

There will be debates about how we can get it done, and certainly many people argue that not every child must learn to code. But when 16% of all new wages in America are in computing fields, nobody disagrees that every school should offer the option to learn the foundational basics of computer science, and that every student should have this basic opportunity if they choose to pursue it.

I feel lucky to have had a chance to be a part of making this happen. At a time when America is reeling under divisiveness, here's the one thing we can all get behind. The letter from America's CEOs, governors, and K-12 leaders is below. Please join, add your name: https://change.org/computerscience.

For our children, #CSforAll
Hadi Partovi

Every student in America should have this opportunity

Dear Members of Congress and fellow Americans,

As business leaders, elected officials, educators, and members of the public, we join forces to deliver a bipartisan message about opportunity and the American Dream. Technology is transforming society at an unprecedented rate. Whether it’s smartphones or social networks, self-driving cars or personalized medicine, nothing embodies the American Dream so much as the opportunity to change or even reinvent the world with technology. And participating in this world requires access to computer science in our schools. We ask you to provide funding for every student in every school to have an opportunity to learn computer science.

Support for this idea is sweeping our nation. Ninety percent of parents want their children to have access to computer science education at school, and teachers agree. They know that technology opens doors. A hundred thousand teachers have taken matters into their own hands and already begun teaching computer science. Over 100 school districts are rolling out courses, from New York to Chicago to Los Angeles, from Miami to Las Vegas. Twenty states have passed policies and are now looking to support professional training for new computer science teachers. Private donors have collectively committed tens of millions of dollars to solving this problem, including $48 million of new commitments announced today by many of the undersigned.

Despite this groundswell, three-quarters of U.S. schools do not offer meaningful computer science courses. At a time when every industry in every state is impacted by advances in computer technology, our schools should give all students the opportunity to understand how this technology works, to learn how to be creators, coders, and makers — not just consumers.  Instead, what is increasingly a basic skill is only available to the lucky few, leaving most students behind, particularly students of color and girls.

How is this acceptable? America leads the world in technology. We invented the personal computer, the Internet, e-commerce, social networking, and the smartphone. This is our chance to position the next generation to participate in the new American Dream.

Not only does computer science provide every student foundational knowledge, it also leads to the highest-paying, fastest-growing jobs in the U.S. economy. There are currently over 500,000 open computing jobs, in every sector, from manufacturing to banking, from agriculture to healthcare, but only 50,000 computer science graduates a year. Whether a student aspires to be a software engineer, or if she just wants a well-rounded education in today’s changing world, access to computer science in school is an economic imperative for our nation to remain competitive. And with the growing threat of cyber warfare, this is even a critical matter of national security. Despite this growing need, targeted federal funding to carry out these efforts in classrooms is virtually non-existent. This bipartisan issue can be addressed without growing the federal budget.

We urge you to amplify and accelerate the local efforts in classrooms, unlock opportunity in every state, and give an answer to all the parents and teachers who believe that every student, in every school, should have a chance to learn computer science.

Sincerely,

Business Leaders
Arne Sorenson, CEO, Marriott
Barry Diller, Chairman, IAC and Expedia
Bill and Melinda Gates
Bobby Kotick, CEO, Activision Blizzard
Brad Smith, President, Microsoft
Brian Chesky, CEO, Airbnb
Brian Cornell, Chairman and CEO, Target
Doug McMillon, CEO, Walmart
Daniel Schulman, CEO, Paypal. Chairman, Symantec
Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO, Expedia
Devin Wenig, CEO, eBay
Drew Houston, CEO, Dropbox
Doug Parker, Chairman and CEO, American Airlines
Edward Breen, Chairman and CEO, DuPont
Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman, Alphabet, Inc.
Ginni Rometty, Chairman and CEO, IBM
Grant Verstandig, CEO, Rally Health
Herb Allen, President, Allen & Company
Jack Dorsey, CEO, Twitter and Square
James Murdoch, CEO, 21st Century Fox
James P. Gorman, Chairman and CEO, Morgan Stanley
Jeff Bezos, Chairman and CEO, Amazon
Jeremy Stoppelman, CEO, Yelp
Jessica Alba, CEO, The Honest Company
Joe Lonsdale, Partner, 8VC. Founder, Palantir
John Donahoe, Chairman, Paypal
John Battelle, Chairman and CEO, NewCo
Julie Sweet, Chief Executive, Accenture North America
Larry Ellison
Larry Fink, Chairman and CEO, BlackRock
Lowell McAdam, Chairman and CEO, Verizon
Marc Benioff, Chairman and CEO, Salesforce
Mark Cuban, Owner, Dallas Mavericks, Landmark Theatres
Mark Zuckerberg, Chairman and CEO, Facebook
Rami Rahim, CEO, Juniper Networks
Randall Stephenson, Chairman and CEO, AT&T
Reid Hoffman, Chairman, LinkedIn
Rich Barton, Chairman, Zillow
Richard Anderson, CEO, Delta Airlines
Robert A. Iger, Chairman and CEO, The Walt Disney Company
Sam Altman, President, Y Combinator
Samuel Allen, Chairman and CEO, John Deere
Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft
Sheryl Sandberg, COO, Facebook
Terry J. Lundgren, Chairman and CEO, Macy's, Inc
Tim Cook, CEO, Apple
Vishal Sikka, CEO, Infosys

Governors
Asa Hutchinson, Governor, Arkansas (R)
Brian Sandoval, Governor, Nevada (R)
C.L. "Butch" Otter, Governor, Idaho (R)
Charlie Baker, Governor, Massachusetts (R)
Dannell P. Malloy, Governor, Connecticut (D)
David Y. Ige, Governor, Hawaii (D)
Doug Ducey, Governor, Arizona (R)
Earl Ray Tomblin, Governor, West Virginia (D)
Edmund G. Brown, Jr., Governor, California (D)
Gina M. Raimondo, Governor, Rhode Island (D)
Jack Dalrymple, Governor, North Dakota (R)
Jack Markell, Governor, Delaware (D)
Jay Inslee, Governor, Washington (D)
John Hickenlooper, Governor, Colorado (D)
Kate Brown, Governor, Oregon (D)
Maggie Hassan, Governor, New Hampshire (D)
Mark Dayton, Governor, Minnesota (D)
Mary Fallin, Governor, Oklahoma (R)
Matt Bevin, Governor, Kentucky (R)
Matt Mead, Governor, Wyoming (R)
Mike Pence, Governor, Indiana (R)
Peter Shumlin, Governor, Vermont (D)
Phil Bryant, Governor, Mississippi (R)
Rick Snyder, Governor, Michigan (R)
Steve Bullock, Governor, Montana (D)
Susana Martinez, Governor, New Mexico (R)
Terry Branstad, Governor, Iowa (R)
Terry McAuliffe, Governor, Virginia (D)

K-12 Leaders
Antwan Wilson, Superintendent, Oakland
Bob Runcie, Superintendent, Broward County Public Schools
Carmen Fari?a, Chancellor, NYC Department of Education
Forrest Claypool, CEO, Chicago Public Schools
Kimberly Hill, Superintendent, Charles County Public Schools
Michelle King, Superintendent, Los Angeles Unified
Pat Skorkowsky, Superintendent, Clark County School District
Richard Carranza, Superintendent, San Francisco Unified
Susan Enfield, Superintendent, Highline Public Schools
Tom Torlakson, State Superintendent, California

Education / Nonprofit
Bobby Schnabel, CEO, Association for Computing Machinery
Cornell Brooks, President and CEO, NAACP
Daniel A. Domenech, Executive Director, AASA, The School
Superintendents Association
David Coleman, CEO, College Board
Elisa Villanueva Beard, CEO, Teach For America
Gail Connelly, ED, National Association of Elementary School Principals
Hadi Partovi, CEO, Code.org
Judy Vredenburgh, President and CEO, Girls Inc.
Lee Hood, MD, PhD, President, Institute for Systems Biology. Co-founder, Amgen
Linda D. Hallman, CEO, American Association of University Women
Lucy Sanders, CEO, National Center for Women and IT
Mark Nelson, Executive Director, CS Teachers Association
Matthew Randazzo, CEO, National Math & Science Initiative
Peggy Brookins, CEO, National Board for Professional Teaching Standards
Telle Whitney, CEO, Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology
Thomas J. Gentzel, Executive Director, National School Boards Association
Vince Bertram, CEO, Project Lead The Way

Join us, at https://change.org/computerscience