Closing the Computer Science Gap
There's a clever line that sooner than later, all jobs will be tech jobs. So why doesn't public education in Louisiana reflect that?
Over the past year, the United States added about one million new tech jobs.[1] At present, Louisiana has about 6,000 openings in these occupations, 1,300 of which are in the Capital Region, with median posted salaries above $77,000.[2] The point is this: high-quality tech jobs are ubiquitous, making the skills needed for these positions incredibly valuable.
Unfortunately, data shows that Louisiana is among the worst in the country in terms of preparing our children for these in-demand jobs. We rank 48th in terms of access to foundational Computer Science courses in high schools, with only 29% of public schools offering such coursework.[3] Our neighbor to the north, Arkansas, leads the country with 92% of their public high schools offering Computer Science curricula. The image below from Code.org illustrates how far Louisiana is lagging against its regional peers.
The situation is slightly less dire in the Baton Rouge metro than the rest of the state, with nearly 60% of our high schools offering Computer Science coursework. In Iberville, Pointe Coupee, and West Feliciana, every public high school offers Computer Science. Still, large pockets of the Capital Region community are without access – in particular, many students in rural areas and disinvested neighborhoods in the urban core.
There’s currently a bill before the state legislature that can help aid this statewide issue: the Computer Science Education Act (SB 190). The legislation, which BRAC supports, serves to create a comprehensive statewide program for Computer Science, as well as state grant dollars to implement the curriculum. If enacted, this legislation will not only ensure Louisiana high schools catch up to their regional and national peers regarding tech coursework, but also lay the foundation for a solid tech workforce and help fill the thousands of open high-quality jobs across the state. As job openings nationwide continue to dwarf available workforce, opportunities like this to bolster the regional and state talent pipeline are invaluable.
[2] Emsi Job Posting Analytics, February 2022