U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer of the 6th District is a co-sponsor of bipartisan legislation called the Teacher Education for Computer Science Act to help build a solid pipeline for computer science education so that students can be successful and innovative in the workforce.
The bill would establish “centers of excellence” for teacher education programs in computer science at graduate schools in colleges and universities. The centers would be supported through competitive five-year grants from the Department of Education, with a matching requirement to incentivize public-private, state-federal, or philanthropic partnerships.
According to Kilmer’s office, the federal funding would enable schools to build long-term sustainable programs and would allow schools to hire and retain faculty to carry out computer science education research, train doctoral students in the field and educate graduate and undergraduate students preparing to be teachers in computer science.
Additionally, Kilmer’s staffers said, the “centers of excellence” would be able to offer scholarships to students, particularly for students from traditionally underrepresented groups in computer science and based on financial need. The bill also would amend several provisions within the Higher Education Act to include additional funding for teacher training in computer science education and to increase the number of computer science teachers.
“Education is the doorway to economic opportunity and we need to ensure our teachers and our education system sets our kids up for success,” Kilmer said in a news release outlining the legislation.
“Empowering teachers with the skills they need to teach computer science will enable them to prepare our students for the workforce of the future,” the congressman said.
”These efforts to strengthen computer science programs will provide more job opportunities for our kids, more qualified employees for local employers and more economic resiliency for our communities.”
Congressman Tom Reed of New York, a Republican, also joined Kilmer to introduce the bipartisan bill.
Raise the Wage Act
In other House action, Kilmer voted July 17 to pass the Raise the Wage Act, which will gradually increase the federal minimum wage to $15 over six years.
Kilmer serves as an original co-sponsor of the bill, which the congressman’s office says will increase pay for up to 33 million American workers. His staffers said that figure was calculated from an independent economic analysis of the legislation.
After more than 10 years without an increase in the federal minimum wage, the longest in history, low-wage workers have experienced a 17-percent pay cut due to inflation, Kilmer’s office stated. Economic analysts expect that increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour will boost total annual wages for low-wage earners by $92.5 billion, staffers said.
They said lifting the minimum wage to that level would increase annual earnings for the average affected year-round worker by $2,800.
The Raise the Wage Act of 2019 would also guarantee tipped workers, youth workers and workers with disabilities are paid at least the full federal minimum wage by phasing out the subminimum wages that allow these workers to be paid below $7.25 an hour.
