1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Computer Science in STEM Act of 2017 . 2. Findings The Congress finds the following: (1) Computer science is transforming industry, creating new fields of commerce, driving innovation in all fields of science, and bolstering productivity in established economic sectors. (2) Computer science underpins the information technology sector of the United States economy, which is a significant contributor to the economic output of the United States. (3) The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that from 2008 through 2018 more than 1,500,000 high-wage computing jobs will be created in the United States economy, making high-wage computing one of the fastest growing occupational fields. (4) The breadth of industries requiring computing professionals is diverse, two-thirds of computing jobs are in sectors other than information technology, including manufacturing, defense, health care, finance, and government. (5) Providing students with computer science education in elementary and secondary school is critical for student success in the 21st century and for strengthening the workforce. (6) Elementary and secondary computer science education gives students a deeper knowledge of the fundamentals of computing, yielding critical thinking skills that will serve them throughout their lives in numerous fields. (7) Computer science courses in elementary and secondary schools are fading from the national landscape at a time when they are most needed. The Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) has found that introductory secondary school computer science courses have decreased in number by 17 percent since 2005 and the number of Advanced Placement (AP) computer science courses has decreased by 33 percent. (8) Significant disparities in access to computer science education exist for minorities. Research in the Los Angeles Unified School District, the second largest and one of the most diverse school districts in the United States, found college-preparatory computer science courses were