By Brad Bergsma
KASB President
With so much political discourse plagued by divisiveness and rancor, including sometimes around the subject of public education, it's nice to be part of bipartisan efforts that will help our students succeed.
Recently, Gov. Laura Kelly, along with more than 25 other governors — Republicans and Democrats — signed an agreement to promote computer science education. This agreement, spearheaded by the National Governors Association, occurred shortly after the Republican-led Kansas Legislature in the 2022 session approved with strong bipartisan majorities HB 2466, which Kelly, a Democrat, signed into law.
HB 2466, called the Promoting Advancement in Computing Knowledge Act, establishes requirements and provides funding aimed at getting quality computer science classes in all high schools.
Championed by state Rep. Steve Huebert, R-Valley Center, who is chairman of the House Education Committee, the effort followed several years of discussions and negotiations.
When Huebert first proposed the bill, not everyone was on board. Several K-12 groups testified against his introduced version in January, while KASB testified as neutral and noted several concerns.
As with all our testimony on state legislation, our position was guided by the positions of our member school boards.
We supported funding in the bill aimed at expanding teacher training programs to increase the number of qualified computer science teachers. But we opposed requiring students to earn a computer science credit to graduate.
We believe graduation requirements are the purview of local school boards and that general supervision of public schools should be under the State Board of Education, including setting standards, accreditation, learnings standards, graduation and teacher licensure. We also noted that the State Board of Education appointed a task force, on which I serve, to study and make recommendations on graduation requirements. KASB Associate Executive Director of Educational Advocacy Mark Tallman is also a task force member and has provided the group with important research and information.
Generally speaking, everyone agrees that our present-day economy requires students to have computer science skills. Work on computer science has been going on at the local and state level for years. In 2021, following a task force report, the State Board of Education approved allowing computer science to count as a core math or science credit toward high school graduation. Computer courses are being offered in about two-thirds of Kansas districts.
KASB's Advocacy Team had numerous conversations with Chairman Huebert and other legislators about this legislation. To advance his bill, Huebert dropped the graduation requirement, and KASB then supported the bill's passage. The bill was eventually approved in the House, 109-10, and Senate, 29-6, and signed into law by Kelly on April 27. It took effect July 1.
So, educators, businesses, politicians, local school boards, the State Board and KASB all understand the importance of computer science and have found a way to coalesce around improving Kansas schools' offerings in a non-partisan way. It's an example of what we can accomplish when we remove our ideological goggles and do what is best for our students and the future of our state.
In addition to serving as KASB President, Brad Bergsma is a member of the Goodland USD 352 school board.
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