Title: High School CODES Act
Policy area: Education

Summary:
Coding Opportunities and Development for Equitable Students Act or the High School CODES Act
This bill amends the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 to direct the Department of Education (ED) to carry out a coding demonstration program. Under the program, ED shall award grants to local educational agencies for the establishment or expansion of programs that allow high-school students to take a coding class in place of a mathematics, science, or foreign language class as graduation requirement.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3122 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3122

                      To support coding education.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 25, 2018

  Ms. Cantwell (for herself and Mr. Cassidy) introduced the following 
  bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, 
                     Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
                      To support coding education.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Coding Opportunities and Development 
for Equitable Students Act'' or the ``High School CODES Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Coding.--The term ``coding'' has the meaning given the 
        term in section 114(e)(6) of the Carl D. Perkins Career and 
        Technical Education Act of 2006 (20 U.S.C. 2324(e)(6)).
            (2) Computer science.--The term ``computer science'' means 
        the study of computers and algorithmic processes, including the 
        principles, hardware and software designs, implementation, and 
        impact on society, of computers and algorithmic processes.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF THE SENATE.

    It is the Sense of the Senate that--
            (1) States should support high schools in recognizing 
        coding and computer science classes as classes that count 
        toward the fulfillment of graduation requirements;
            (2) it should be a priority to create a national strategy 
        to incorporate computer science and coding into the elementary 
        and secondary educational system in the United States;
            (3) learning to write and read code is critical to creating 
        and innovating in cyberspace, and learning to write and read 
        code is a skill critical to the national security and economic 
        competitiveness of the United States; and
            (4) the modernization of the educational system in the 
        United States is a priority, and modernization is necessary to 
        bolster the next generation of high-tech workers.

SEC. 4. CODING DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM.

    Section 114 of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education 
Act of 2006 (20 U.S.C. 2324) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsection (e) as subsection (f);
            (2) in subsection (d)(2)(A), by striking ``subsection(e)'' 
        and inserting ``subsection (f)'';
            (3) in subsection (d)(4)(A), by striking ``subsection (e)'' 
        and inserting ``subsection (f)''; and
            (4) by inserting after subsection (d) the following:
    ``(e) Coding Demonstration Program.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall carry out a coding 
        demonstration program, through which the Secretary shall award 
        grants to local educational agencies to enable those local 
        educational agencies to establish new programs or expand 
        existing programs that allow high school students to take a 
        coding class in place of a mathematics, science, or foreign 
        language class in order to fulfill a graduation requirement.
            ``(2) Application.--
                    ``(A) In general.--A local educational agency 
                desiring a grant under this subsection shall submit an 
                application to the Secretary at such time, in such 
                manner, and containing such information as the 
                Secretary may require, including the information 
                described in subparagraph (B).
                    ``(B) Contents.--An application submitted under 
                subparagraph (A) shall include--
                            ``(i) a strategy for obtaining future 
                        funding to sustain the program after the grant 
                        has ended from State, private, or other non-
                        Federal funding sources;
                            ``(ii) a spending plan;
                            ``(iii) a description of the goals of the 
                        program; and
                            ``(iv) a description of the statistics the 
                        local educational agency will collect to 
                        include in the local educational agency's 
                        report to the Secretary described under 
                        paragraph (4).
            ``(3) Priority.--In awarding grants under this subsection, 
        the Secretary shall give priority to a local educational agency 
        submitting an application under paragraph (2) that is located 
        in a rural or underserved area.
            ``(4) Report.--Not later than 5 years after the date of 
        enactment of this subsection, each local educational agency 
        receiving a grant under paragraph (1) shall submit to the 
        Secretary a report about the coding program activities carried 
        out with grant funds, including information and statistics 
        about that program's findings, successes, and failures.
            ``(5) Sunset.--This subsection shall remain in effect until 
        the date that is 5 years after the date of enactment of this 
        subsection.
            ``(6) Definitions.--
                    ``(A) Coding.--In this subsection, the term 
                `coding' means the creation and modification of--
                            ``(i) source code (defined as any series of 
                        statements written in some human-readable 
                        computer programming language); or
                            ``(ii) machine code (defined as 
                        instructions for a computer processor in some 
                        machine language).
                    ``(B) High school.--In this subsection, the term 
                `high school' has the meaning given the term in section 
                8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 
                1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801).''.
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