SACRAMENTO, Calif. — To build a future of financially literate citizens, bill AB2927 would require students beginning with the class of 2029 to take at least one semester of a personal finance course to graduate high school.
What You Need To Know
- California is one of four states that does not require students to take a personal finance class to graduate high school
- AB2927 would require students, beginning with the class of 2029, to take a personal finance class to graduate
- Similar legislative efforts have failed in the past because of lack of funding and pushback on adding more curriculum
- A 2019 Experian Consumer Finance Survey found 76% of recent high school graduates said they wished their schools placed more emphasis on personal finance
If implemented, the personal finance course would need to ensure students:
- Learn to develop budgeting skills for independent living
- Understand the tax system, including how to file taxes, and how to read tax forms and pay stubs
- Understanding retirement accounts, including 401(k) programs, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc.
- Know the dangers of predatory lending practices
- Learn to establish credit and understand the role of credit scores and credit reports
Current high school senior, Ozzy Gonzalez agrees the bill should pass.
“It’s really important for us to know about personal finance and how to budget so that we can survive out in the real world,” said Gonzalez.
Gonzalez is graduating this year, so it would be too late for they to benefit from this, but says he sees the impact this can make for future generations.
California is one of four states who have virtually no personal finance education requirements according to the Center for Financial Literacy at Champlain College, who has also given the state a letter grade of Fin their annual state report card.
Another organization, “The Nations Report Card on Financial Literacy” has given the state a D.
However, despite California not requiring students to take a personal finance class, many schools have partnered with organizations trying to fill that gap like the Junior Achievement Southern Californianonprofit.
Gonzalez’s school, Alliance Cindy and Bill Simon Technology High School, is one of them and visited the organization’s Finance Park to get hands-on personal finance learning.
“Something that I have learned so far, is the amount of things that we have to put our money into, which is a lot when it gets put in-front of you,” said Gonzalez.
Like many of Gonzalez's peers, it was the first time they had to balance a budget. Which is the idea, according to senior program manager at Junior Achievement, Christine Kunishige.
“Because once students leave high school and they’re on their own, they’re off in college, they’re going to be facing so many challenges and situations relating to money that many of our schools right now are not teaching,” said Kunishige.
However, similar bills in the past have failed to pass the legislature because of lack of funding.
Several studies have also concluded that students who took a financial literacy course were no more financially literate than those who did not.
Similar bills have also received pushback on adding more curriculum in school as other subjects like media literacy and ethnic studies are also competing for limited instructions hours.
Kat Delgado Kirkwood, the Chief Partnership and Impact Officer at Junior Achievement SoCal, points to record high credit card debt among Americans and the rising cost of living in California for why this is needed more than ever.
“We need an inform student body citizens that can contribute to the economy. And so it is important. So for everyone that says, ‘hey, this is going to be difficult’, we’re just adding more work to these teachers. We are positioned and we can support the schools appropriately,” said Delgado Kirkwood.
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She has been going to Sacramento this month to push for the bill to pass.
“We’re making sure that they understood the bill and understood the work that we’re doing and that we’re going to follow up with your local constituents in the communities that we serve so that they’re informed as well,” said Delgado Kirkwood.
She says this bill goes beyond the individual students.
“Being able to create generational wealth is so critically important, right? Many of our families are either living paycheck to paycheck. They don’t understand how to actually go through the mechanism of budgeting, of understanding the costs,” said Delgado Kirkwood.
The California Department of Education Superintendent Tony Thurmond also threw his support behind the bill, in a statement saying, “Young Californians are entering the workforce and higher education with very little understanding of financial literacy. This is deeply concerning, since students with higher financial literacy are more likely to invest in a savings account, prepare for retirement, and manage their debt.”
Currently, the bill does not have an opposition and is being heard in the State AssemblyCommittee on Education.
