On October 2, 2023, House Bill 8 was signed into law by Governor Roy Cooper after passing the North Carolina House and Senate. The law received bipartisan support and was championed by the NC Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Catherine Truitt. The law allows high schools to add Computer Science as a part of the standard course of study beginning next school year (2024-2025) and requires all students entering high school in the 2026-2027 school year and later to take a computer science course in order to graduate. 

Current high school students do not have to worry about this new requirement. The first class this will apply to is the freshmen class of 2026-2027, the graduating class of 2030. These students are currently in sixth grade. NC is the eighth state to make computer science a high school graduation requirement. Others include Arkansas, Hawaii, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, and South Carolina. 

Superintendent Truit said, “Computer science has permeated every facet of society… By adding computer science to our graduation requirements, we are ensuring that students gain first-hand experience in this ever-growing discipline so that they can be better prepared to pursue the postsecondary plan of their choice.” 

Lawmakers are requiring the course because computer science is a growing career field. Computers, software, and coding are becoming increasingly relevant to our society with each passing day. A report from the NC Department of Commerce says the number of jobs related to computers and math are expected to increase by up to 20.6 percent by 2030. Additionally, the median annual salary for jobs in computer science fields is the second highest in the state at over $98,000, second only to management jobs at almost $102,000. 

In addition to the career benefits of high school computer science education, it can also benefit diversity in the often male dominated STEM field. After passing their computer science requirement, South Carolina had more young women enrolled in computer science courses than Texas, despite South Carolina only having one sixth of Texas’s population.

One of the biggest concerns regarding the new course requirement is staffing. Many NC schools are already struggling to find enough teachers for core courses, like math, English, social studies, and science, so finding enough teachers qualified to teach computer science across the state will likely be a challenge. Although the requirement has not gone into effect yet, Apex has offered two levels of AP Computer Science for years, taught by one teacher; however, Apex’s computer science teacher position has been a rotating door for the past four years. In order to teach every student computer science, Apex will likely need a minimum of three computer science teachers. 

NC has not added a content area to the high school graduation requirements in a century. The change will certainly be an adjustment for everyone. Students, teachers, schools, and districts have just under three years to make the necessary changes to be able to teach this course to every high school student across the state.