Tim Cook and Mark Zuckerberg are two tech giants who are looking to become advocates for K-12 computer science education. The Apple and Facebook CEO’s have taken it upon themselves to appeal to congress in hopes to get the government to fund K-12 computer science education.

“Some of the biggest names in tech and corporate America, including Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, have teamed up with governors and educators to ask Congress to provide $250 million in federal funding to school districts in order to give every single K-12 student in the nation an opportunity to learn how to code,” according to TechCrunch.

“On the legislative side, these tech CEOs are joined by governors from both sides, including California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) and Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson (R).”

While you may already know that President Barack Obama proposed plan that would require $4 billion for computer science funding, these CEO’s are trying to go about it in what could be a more economical manner.

“The breadth of support shows that computer science isn’t just a tech problem anymore, it’s an America problem,” Code.org founder Hadi Partovi told TechCrunch in an email, according to the report.

“And it’s not just a Democrat issue, it’s the most bipartisan issue in the U.S.”

“In the meantime, Microsoft, Google, Zuckerberg, Bezos and others have collectively committed $48 million to the cause, with $23 million of it going to Code.org.”

The CEO’s are certainly not afraid to put up their own money in hopes to help the entire nation become smarter about computer science education. The money would go towards helping students learn the ins and outs of coding so that they have the base knowledge they need, should they want to pursue a career in the future.

What’s more interesting about the proposal is that they are also asking for support from the public in their Change.org petition. So far, 21,226 supporters have signed off on the petition as they creep up on the 25,000 goal.

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Article by Navindra Persaud, Education World Contributor.