Which came first, the engineer or access to an engaging, stimulating science and math curriculum? OK. I am no stand-up comedian, and truthfully, the racial disparities in STEM professions are no laughing matter. Unlike many in Silicon Valley who believe the lack of diversity is a talent issue, I believe it is the result of a lack of access to technology at home and in schools serving students of color in Washington State, and across the nation.

In the 2014 Technology Access and Adoption in Seattle Report, researchers found access to and use of communications’ technologies was largely based on neighborhood of residence and income level. Families with children in Seattle Public Schools, the largest public school district in the state, were less likely to have computers, tablets, and internet at home than other households with children under 18, whose children likely attend private school. This is particularly true for families living in the poorer southeastern and western neighborhoods of Seattle.

The 2012 Washington State Supreme Court ruling in McCleary v. State of Washington recognized that school funding varied by geographic location, and that many schools relied too heavily on local taxes to make up resources that states should provide. Those underfunded schools are disproportionately in black and brown communities.

While their peers are learning to code on school-provided laptops, black and brown students have minimally equipped computer labs with antiquated desktop computers running on outdated software. Their peers are dreaming up new ways to improve everyday life with robotics technology, while they are reading about technical advancements of the past in outdated textbooks that fail to feature scientists who even look like them.

I work for an education non-profit that has created a gamified, digital platform to connect low-income, underserved students with online resources and tools that help prepare them for high school and college success. With our in-school programming, we are often confronted with the technical limitations of low-incoming-serving schools that lack sufficient computer access, broadband Internet connectivity, and instructors with even a minimal technical proficiency to help students connect to the platform.

Because our program requires students to have access to the Internet to effectively compete, we’ve had to encourage schools to offer early access to school computer labs, ask teachers to bring in their own tablets for student use during lunch breaks, and even partner with local organizations to provide mobile computer labs to students during school hours.

This limited access to technology at school and home puts black and brown students at a disadvantage for competing in a technology-driven world. We have created a system that excludes diverse voices due to limited access to technology. As part of his education priorities for his second term in office, Superintendent Randy Dorn proposed an expansion of STEM education across all levels of education through the creation of the STEM Lighthouse program. It is a step in the right direction.

In order to make real progress in increasing the diversity of professionals in STEM careers, we have to address the access issue earlier in the education system. We have to provide all students with the right tools so technical proficiency is consistent across school districts regardless of neighborhood or income levels. We also have to explore ways to encourage students to connect the challenges of the future to technical solutions so they begin to imagine a world where their innovative thinking is needed and valued. Provided with an engaging, stimulating science and math curriculum, students can locate themselves in the technical future whether they want to be engineers, scientists, developers, or something we have yet to conceive.