UPDATE: the 2023 Financial Education Bill Tracker from Next Gen Personal Finance provides daily updates on which state legislatures have introduced financial education bills for grades K-12 throughout 2023.

Read on to learn how they achieved this...

So much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving season...including 2 more states that will ensure that high school students crossing that graduation stage will have the financial know-how gained from a personal finance course. Here's how they got there:

• Kansas (#16): Last Thursday (11/10), the Kansas State Board of Education voted 8-1 on new high school graduation requirements which include a 1/2 credit (one semester) course in financial literacy and a requirement that students complete the FAFSA. The new graduation requirements will take effect in 2027.  

• New Hampshire (#17): Earlier this year, financial education bills were passed by legislators and signed by Governor Sununu.  The language in this recently released technical advisory from the New Hampshire Dept. of Education makes clear that all students will be guaranteed to take a standalone personal finance course: 

  "...adds personal finance literacy as a new stand-alone subject requirement. HB 1671 became effective August 23, 2022, however, the requirement for personal finance literacy becomes applicable for the 2023-2024 academic year."

To summarize, it's been an incredible year for increasing access to financial education as six states have now made the commitment to guarantee a semester long personal finance. Kansas and New Hampshire join Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Michigan who passed legislation or enacted policies earlier this year. 

The team at Next Gen Personal Finance looks forward to supporting teachers and district leaders during this implementation period with our industry leading curriculum and professional development offerings. 

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Find out which states introduced bills in 2022 with the NGPF Financial Education BillTracker. 

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Looking for tools to advocate at the school, district or state level for increased access to financial education? Check out the NGPF advocacy tools! 

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.

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