Dive Brief:

• President Barack Obama announced over $100 million in grants that will be presented to districts, facilitating opportunities for students to get work experience for the “in-demand jobs of the future.”
• The grant money, which will be distributed among 24 schools, comes from fees collected over the years by the U.S. government from companies purchasing visas for foreign workers. 
• The money used from the grant will allow districts that won the nationwide competition to “develop and test new curricula and models for success.  We want to invest in your future,” President Obama said.  

Dive Insight:

Obama’s decision to use visa fees to fund the grant is brilliant, as it drives home the need for U.S. schools to up the ante and create real competitors for the jobs of the future.

While Obama discusses these grants as an opportunity to create innovative new curricula and models of success, this feels a bit contradictory as the rest of the nation is in massive debate on the use of the Common Core. 

The U.S. competition to get federal education funds is also another action that raises the national conversation of funding disparities. Should the government be funding programs in schools that are already starting to create these programs and have the infrastructure to do so? Or should it focus its funding efforts on schools in neighborhoods that lack most of the basic resources — STEM materials not even on their most immediate wish list.