Minnesota Governor Tim Walz joined 49 other state and territorial Governors calling for expanded computer science education in their state’s schools. The compact recognizes that it is “more important than ever that all students have the opportunity to learn computer science to inform them as global citizens, to prepare them for the future of work and to protect them from cybersecurity threats.”
According to Code.org’s 2021 annual State Of Computer Science Education report Minnesota ranks last in the nation in the percent of high schools offering foundational computer science courses. Of the nine state policy issues that Code.org tracks Minnesota has two in place.
In the 2022 legislative session a bill was introduced in the Minnesota House, HF 3243, that called for the state to develop a blueprint for expanding computer science education k-12 in Minnesota. It failed due to a lack of support in the Senate.
The National Governor’s Association compact was an initiative of Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson in his role as Chairman of the bipartisan organization.