What follows article was initially published in the Ohio Capital Journal and published on News5Cleveland.com as part of a content sharing agreement.
Ohio legislators present bills that would force high school students to take a computer lesson before obtaining their diploma.
Representatives of the Don Jones, R-Freeport and Gayle Manning state, R-North Ridgeville, present legislation in Ohio House and State Sens. Jerry Cirino, R-Kirtland and Catherine D. Ingram, D-Cincinnati, present a bill in the Ohio Senate. The two should be presented next week.
The Bills would force Ohio public secondary schools to offer at least one computer course starting with the 2027-28 school year and would force public students to follow a unit of a computer course in order to go through the class of the high school of 2032.
“The objective of this bill is to prepare students for success by allowing them to develop valuable skills such as problem solving and computer thought and making Ohio a leader in technological education,” said Manning Thursday at a press conference.
Jones, who could not attend the press conference, presented a Similar bill at the last general meetingBut he had only sponsor testimonies.
Just over a third (38%) of Ohio secondary schools offer no computer courses, said Rick Carfagna, the vice-president of government affairs of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce.
“Ohio’s economic competitiveness depends on the preparation of technologically competent workforce with skills for jobs that have not yet been invented,” he said.
In Ohio, 61% of public secondary schools offer computer courses, said Julia Wynn, director of government government for state to Code.org.
“Rural and urban schools are slightly less likely to offer (IT) than suburban schools,” she said.
The percentage at the Ohio state scale is lower than most of its neighboring states, she said. For example, 91% of Indiana public secondary schools offer computer courses, 78% of Virginie-Western schools offer them, 76% of Kentucky schools offer lessons and 75% of Pennsylvania schools offer courses.
“This is where education and economic development converge,” said Cirino. “Economic development is essential in Ohio.”
It is crucial for the state labor that secondary schools graduate from students with basic computer knowledge, he said.
“It is almost as if we were talking about reading, writing, arithmetic and computers as a new mantra,” said Cirino. “They will not be equipped. They will not be able to study psychology or architecture if they are not literate by computer, you just have to have this tool in your toolbox. “”
Ohio will be delayed if the technological workforce is lagging behind, said Chris Berry, president and chief executive officer of Ohiox, a non-profit association of technology on the scale of the state.
“”While AI becomes more widespread and becomes anchored in all types of businesses, once again, large or small, we need a workforce, “he said. “We need technology workers who will be able to take the lead on this subject and really push and innovate and build the industries of tomorrow for the state of Ohio.”
Arkansas, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Northern Dakota, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Tennessee all have public students to adopt a computer course, according to a Report 2023 Code.org.
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