U.S. President Barack Obama called today for millions of dollars in new funding to improve math and science education, an effort he said would be crucial to the nation’s long-term success. Obama said his upcoming budget proposal would include a request for $80 million from Congress for a new Department of Education competition to support math and science teacher preparation programs. Separately, he announced $22 million in investments from the private sector to support math and science efforts, including support from the 100Kin10 partnership, now 115 members strong. Among the organizations committing new funding are Google and the Carnegie Corporation.