The U.S. Department of Education has awarded the money to NextEd - a Sacramento-based non-profit that links industry with education.
NextEd's Linda Christopher says the group will distribute the funds to 40 high schools in the eight-county Sacramento region…from Lodi to Chico.
"We're excited to bring them engineering course work which is really integral to the prosperity of our region."
Schools will get brand new computer labs as well as
maintenance and tech support for four-years.
Christopher says the grant will also be used to evaluate
Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics classes…also known
as STEM.
"STEM education is crucial in preparing students for the
jobs of the next economy which are heavy in technology and heavy
with engineering and so we feel that we're really helping to build
that pipeline."
Christopher says the new computer labs will be in place in
time for the start of the Fall 2013 semester.
