Sec. 2. Findings

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Congress finds the following: The supply of STEM workers is not keeping pace with the rapidly evolving needs of the public and private sector, resulting in a deficit often referred to as a STEM skills shortage. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the United States will need 1,000,000 more STEM professionals than the United States is on track to produce in the coming decade. Many STEM occupations offer higher wages, more opportunities for advancement, and a higher degree of job security than non-STEM jobs.

The 60,000,000 individuals in the United States who live in rural settings are significantly under-represented in STEM. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 9,000,000 students in the United States, an amount equal to nearly 20 percent of the total population of students in kindergarten through grade 12, attend rural schools, and for reasons ranging from teacher quality to shortages of resources, these students often have fewer opportunities for high-quality STEM learning than their peers in the Nation’s urban and suburban schools.

Rural areas represent one of the most promising, yet underutilized, opportunities for STEM education to impact workforce development and regional innovation, including agriculture. The study of agriculture, food, and natural resources involves biology, engineering, physics, chemistry, mathematics, geology, computer science, and other scientific fields. It is estimated that by 2020 that there will be a projected 1,000,000 more computing jobs than applicants who can fill them. To meet this demand, rural students must acquire computing skills through exposure to computer science learning in prekindergarten through grade 12 and in informal learning settings.

More than 293,000,000 individuals in the United States use high-speed broadband to work, learn, access healthcare, and operate their businesses, while 19,000,000 individuals in the United States still lack access to high-speed broadband. Rural areas are hardest hit, with over 26 percent of individuals in rural areas in the United States lacking access to high-speed broadband compared to 1.7 percent of individuals in urban areas in the United States.