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Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer wants the Department of Education to preserve funding for an internal data and research group that provides a health check on the nation’s educational system, he said on Friday at Semafor’s World Economy Summit.
Ballmer, the head of the nonprofit USAFacts, sent a letter last week to Education Secretary Linda McMahon, pleading to not cut funding to an internal department that does the “critical work” in gathering and publishing statistics that help rank schools, identify areas of weakness, and gauge return on investments. The National Center for Education Statistics’ data is also critical to USAFact’s mission, he said.
“I wanted the secretary to know that whatever cuts, whatever reorganization, whatever happens with the Department of Education… [what] all of us as citizens need to know is that federal government money [is] working,” he told Semafor’s Gina Chon. “The federal government needs to pull that data together, in my opinion, to run appropriately and the federal government runs tests that are standard in proficiency across the country.”
He noted the data provided about Washington state, for example, showed an increase in “graduation rates with no improvements in math or reading scores.” That “seems to be something that people could get alarmed about,” he said.
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A personal concern around education for Ballmer is whether American teachers are falling behind on the use of artificial intelligence in their classrooms.
“It’s going to be an interesting, not necessarily an easy, transition for society,” he said of embedding AI into curricula. “But I’m a believer in technology.” Having already made use of AI with his own work at USAFacts, he added: “Even the short-term deliverables, let alone long-term possibilities using AI are immense.”
President Donald Trump earlier this week signed an executive order creating a White House task force meant to promote AI development in education.
Ballmer said he’s also concerned about America’s ability to win the global competition for high-tech talent. “Bucket No. 1 is, do we have those PhDs, those super scientists, those super engineers who can bring us the modern advances in technology?” he said. “It’s not just about the talent that we develop here. So I think there’s a big immigration issue on that dimension.”
The Semafor View
CEOs need to be fluent in emerging technologies, but artificial intelligence will become as ubiquitous as did mobile and digital. But as AI becomes embedded in organizations, CEOs will need a more nimble approach to project management.