Adult and technical, K-12, and early-childhood education are all finding heightened support from state leaders, policy analysts said at SXSW 2019.

All public high-school students in the state must now receive computer science education before graduation.

Gov. Bill Lee says the initiative would bolster the technology workforce and help develop new computer science standards and teacher training.

Funding new programs that provide college pathways and teacher training is hoped to close a gap in the technical workforce.

The state is the 42nd in the country to place high school computer science on equal footing with traditional science courses like physics and biology.

Gov. Tom Wolf's office says the funding of about $11,000 per school is meant to help "students of color, low-income students and girls."

Industry demand for tech workers is climbing, but new data shows computer science is conspicuously absent from K-12 curricula across the country.

A computer science initiative addressing workforce shortages will be piloted at Mills College in Oakland this February and other schools next summer.

The state reports a more than 600 percent increase of high school computer science teachers within the last three years.