Altoona Area and Williamsburg Community school districts are among those receiving $35,000 targeted grants to improve computer education.

Gov. Tom Wolf announced $8.7 million in targeted grants to expand computer science classes and teacher training at 765 schools across the commonwealth on Thursday.

Grants also were awarded to a Central Cambria, Penn Cambria, Chestnut Ridge, Juniata Valley, Philipsburg-Osceola and Southern Huntingdon County school districts.

The targeted grants represent the next phase of the governor’s new and innovative PAsmart initiative, which will provide $20 million to bring high-quality computer science and STEM education to elementary, middle, and high schools, and professional development for teachers. With this commitment, Pennsylvania now ranks second in the country for investments in K-12 STEM and computer science.

These grants are meant to fund teams of educators (four or more) who would like to be trained on ways to implement computer science in their classrooms.

There will be followup funding to purchase products and equipment after the training.