Bethlehem, PA – January 17, 2020 – Senator Lisa Boscola (D-Lehigh/Northampton) announced today that $70,000 in grants through the PAsmart Initiative were awarded to two school districts in the 18th Senatorial District to expand computer science programs and teacher training.
“I am pleased that additional school districts in my district took advantage of this important computer science funding to improve STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) training in our local schools,” Boscola stated. “We have made STEM training a priority in the Commonwealth so that our students are educated to meet the demands of the 21st economy. These grants will assist in those efforts,” she added.
Each school district received a $35,000 grant allocation:
- Distrito escolar Whitehall-Coplay
- Distrito escolar del área de Wilson
Statewide 163 school districts, charter schools and intermediate units were awarded $35,000 in funding. Last year, six school districts in the 18th District were awarded funding through this component of the PASmart Initiative (Catasauqua Area, East Penn, Easton Area, Northampton Area, Salisbury Township and Saucon Valley School Districts). The PAsmart Initiative will be awarding additional grants in the near future for science and technology education, apprenticeships and job training.
The PAsmart Initiative is a statewide program to aid Commonwealth schools in meeting the workforce demands of our economy, one in which over the next decade seven out of ten new jobs will require the use of a computer and by 2026 an estimated 300,000 STEM jobs will be available.
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