My mom was a high school teacher in a small rural district with a Ford plant. In the early 80's, she took a couple of programming classes as a hedge against possible layoff, and ended up starting a class at her school. She paid for the computers out of her own pocket, and class met before the regular school day.
It should be noted that during this time period, outside of a few affluent districts, virtually all teaching of programming at the K-12 level was done on an ad hoc basis by teachers who volunteered their time and money.
