Jackson, Miss. (WLBT) – It’s not often that good things come from challenging circumstances, but that’s exactly what happened in Mississippi with the recent passage of computer science education legislation for all public schools in our state.
A global health crisis that dramatically impacted the lives of all Mississippians and forced many K-12 students to learn remotely was a major factor in the decision by state lawmakers to adopt legislation that paves the way for computer science curriculum by the 2024 academic year.
A big thank you goes to Gov. Tate Reeves for signing the Mississippi Computer Science and Cyber Education Equality Act into law and to Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and Speaker Phillip Gunn who oversaw efforts to pass the bill in the Mississippi Legislature.
Thanks also to the thousands of Mississippi customers who responded to our call for help and let their elected officials know that this is an important issue that needed immediate action.
C Spire has been a major driving force behind the push for more computer science curriculum in the classrooms since 2015 and helped jump start efforts this year with a $1 million commitment from our non-profit charitable foundation to help with teacher training and implementation.
Hindsight is always 20/20, but when we look back on this moment a decade from now, we’ll see that our efforts to educate and prepare young people for the jobs of the new 21st century economy have been successful.
More smart and gifted young people will decide to stay here because there will be more high-paying, high quality technology-based jobs in our state. That’s going to make us even stronger and more competitive with neighboring states and the rest of the country in the future.
Well done, Mississippi!