22 Jan Gov. Nixon announces funding for Project Lead the Way’s Launch in 350 Missouri elementary schools
(excerpt from 1/21/15 State of the State address)
And once again, I am proposing record funding for K-12 education … with an additional $150 million for our local public schools. That means more technology in classrooms … smaller class sizes … more hands-on learning …
It also means better pay for the folks that do the toughest, most important job there is: teaching our kids… We know that the fastest-growing, highest-paying jobs in the global economy are in science, technology, engineering and math. But right now less than 20 percent of undergrads at our public universities are getting degrees in these demanding academic disciplines. We’ve got to expose kids – at an early age – to programs that bring science and math to life … like Project Lead the Way.
I’ve been to Project Lead the Way classrooms where kids were analyzing DNA and designing software. It’s a real game-changer. We now have more Project Lead the Way computer science programs than any other state. But not enough schools are using Project Lead the Way at the elementary level. We need to ramp that up dramatically. That’s why my budget provides start-up grants to expand Project Lead the Way to another 350 elementary schools.
