Mayor de Blasio Details Tech Investments in City Schools To Close Achievement Gap and Better Prepare all Students for The Workforce

As Internet Week continues, Mayor Bill de Blasio detailed key investments in this year’s budget that will support technology in city schools, helping close the achievement gap and lift up students in every neighborhood.

Joined by Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña and venture capitalist Fred Wilson at the Bronx Academy for Software Engineering (BASE), the Mayor will announce a $20-million investment in new devices and software to increase classroom connectivity, and a $650 million capital investment in wiring City schools and securing new hardware that keeps pace with the emerging ‘tech ecosystem.’

BASE is one of two new unscreened high schools that offer computer science to all students as part of standard Regents-prep high school experience. BASE has connections to major tech firms and groups like Google, New York Tech Meetup, General Assembly, Girls Who Code and StartUp Box: South Bronx. In addition, the school’s partnerships with the Museum of the Moving Image and NPower, facilitated by the Digital Ready program funded by the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, build teacher capacity to use technology in the classroom.

As part of this year’s executive budget, the City is making significant new investments to increase the availability of technology in the classroom, and boost programs that allow students to pursue computer science-related academic tracks. Those initiatives include:

• Increasing Enrollment in Comprehensive Computer Science Education:
• Increasing Teachers’ Technology Expertise
• Increasing Use of Technology in the Classroom
• Increasing School Connectivity
• Increasing Higher Education STEM Programs