Rural Stem Education Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. LUCAS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 4979, the Rural STEM Education Act. I am pleased to be leading this important bipartisan bill and would like to thank Congressman McAdams, Congressman Baird, Congresswoman Johnson, and the other 43 Members of Congress who cosponsored this bill for their support.

Now more than ever, America's prosperity and security depend on an effective, inclusive science, technology, engineering, math, and computer science workforce, or STEM.

Nationally, 80 percent of the fastest growing occupations depend upon mastery of STEM skills. The number of STEM jobs is growing three times faster than non-STEM jobs. Over the next decade, the STEM shortage is anticipated to reach 1 million positions, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

To succeed in this job market, our students need to be equipped with solid skills in science and engineering.

Meeting this demand starts in the classroom. With STEM education becoming so fundamental to success in any industry, finding ways to improve the quality of STEM learning everywhere is of critical importance.

Over 9 million students in the United States, nearly 20 percent of the K-12 population, attend rural schools. In Oklahoma, that number is even higher. One-third of our students attend rural schools.

These students face a number of barriers to accessing high-quality STEM learning, including a shortage of trained science and math teachers, single teachers teaching multiple grade levels, a lack of access to advanced STEM courses, and few local university and industry partners.

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, we have seen even further proof that rural students are at a disadvantage, given the unreliability or nonexistent broadband access many must deal with while currently distance learning.

The Rural STEM Education Act supports research and development activities to improve our understanding of the challenges rural communities are facing in providing and sustaining quality STEM education programs and take steps to address them.

H.R. 4979 helps develop best practices for accessing and using computer-based and online STEM education courses. It will help schools combine online STEM education with hands-on training and apprenticeships, to give students both theoretical and practical understanding of science and math skills.

This bill will also take steps to address one of the great key obstacles to rural STEM education: reduced connectivity and, in particular, the lack of broadband access. Of the 21 million Americans who lack access to broadband, the majority live in rural areas. With the increase in online learning, we need to prioritize connectivity for all students.

This bill directs the National Institutes of Standards and Technology to establish a prize competition to stimulate innovations in technologies to deploy broadband connectivity to underserved rural communities.

It also establishes a working group to set key research priorities for improving broadband access so rural communities can enjoy the same connectedness as the rest of the country.

This bill includes a number of provisions to help provide rural educators with the tools they need to be successful, both in the classroom and online.

It supports opportunities for rural educators to refresh and enhance their own STEM knowledge, such as training in computer science and research opportunities at Federal laboratories and universities. These experiences provide rural educators with high-quality STEM skills and practices they can take back to their classrooms and pass on to their students.

Lastly, the major focus of the bill is broadening the participation of rural students in STEM. One way we can do this is by emphasizing place-based learning, which gives students direct access to the STEM knowledge in their communities and local environments.

Place-based learning connects students to the science that is right outside their doors, whether it is studying animal science with FFA, learning about local ecosystems out on the prairies or in forests, or developing the technological skills required to operate increasingly complex and computerized farm equipment.

That direct experience engages students and helps them understand that STEM skills matter to everyone, not just scientists in white lab coats.

Taken together, the measures in this bill will dramatically improve rural STEM education. I believe rural areas represent one of the greatest yet most underutilized opportunities for talented students to enhance the United States' future STEM workforce.

I am pleased this bill has gained the endorsement of the STEM Education Coalition, the Afterschool Alliance, Battelle and STEM-X, National Science Teaching Association, American Chemical Society, American Geophysical Union, Microsoft, Girl Scouts of the USA, National FFA Organization, and Association of Public and Land-grant Universities.

I again would like to thank Chairwoman Johnson, Representative McAdams, Representative Baird, and their staff for working with me on this bill.

I strongly encourage my colleagues to vote ``yes'' to better STEM education for America's rural students, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. LUCAS. Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Baird).

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Mr. LUCAS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I might consume.

In closing, I again want to thank Chairwoman Johnson, Representative McAdams, Representative Baird, and their staff for working with me on this bill.

I am grateful to my colleagues for helping me move this forward in a bipartisan way. I want rural students to have every opportunity to compete and contribute STEM skills both to their communities and to the national workforce.

The Rural STEM Education Act gives teachers better tools to teach science and math, leverages local resources to engage students in key subjects, and addresses the lack of broadband access in rural communities.

Madam Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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