A provision in an amendment in the Every Child Achieves Act, an overhaul of the No Child Left Behind Act that passed the Senate Thursday in an 81-17 vote, requires the Secretary of Education to submit a report on the state of cybersecurity higher education to Congress by next June.
That report would chronicle the successes and shortcomings of both secondary and post-secondary cybereducation, assessing whether educational programs past muster when it comes to cybersecurity.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, added the amendment to the bill in an effort to address a shortage of cybersecurity professionals nationwide that has been cited as contributing to recent high-profile cyber attacks on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
This is the first time in 14 years that the Senate overhauled the often-maligned No Child Left Behind Act.
