The following post is one in a series of inspiring stories from NGPF's Gold Standard Challenge Grant Program which incentivizes high schools and districts to commit to ALL students taking personal finance courses before graduation. Learn more, and apply for your $2,500 to $30,000 Gold Standard Challenge Grant before the August 31, 2022 deadline here.

About Today's Guest Author

Rane Case is an educator at Wellington High School in Wellington, Kansas. Their school is the 160th recipient of the Gold Standard Challenge grant. Here is Rane describing Wellington High’s journey to the Gold Standard.

Describe a rough timeline for how you and/or your colleagues were able to advocate for personal finance to become a graduation requirement in your school/district. How long did it take? What were the major progress milestones?

We began in the Spring of 2021. First, I presented the idea to the building principal, then to the local school board. The local school board had us make two separate presentations. Altogether, it took a total of 6 months from presenting to the building principal to being approved by the school district.

What challenges did you encounter in your efforts to make personal finance a graduation requirement, and what solutions did you find for these challenges?

The biggest challenge was making it a graduation requirement. All school board members love the idea of having a personal finance course offered, they were just hesitant to make it a requirement for graduation. However, we required students to earn a business credit for graduation requirements, and the personal finance course is now 0.5 of that 1 credit.

What/who were the "catalysts for change" that allowed your efforts to be successful?

The “catalysts for change” that allowed my efforts to be successful were the Administration and the School board. They were enthusiastic about implementing a personal finance requirement after a bit of convincing.

Which stakeholders (students, parents, admin, business leaders, school board, etc) were helpful partners in your quest to make the graduation requirement happen?

It would have been the building principal and vice-principal at our high school. They provided the necessary clearance for us to seek approval from the local school board. The superintendent was also willing to let us present our request. Bottom line is, the administration allowed the school board to hear our request and rule on the approval to add as part of the graduation requirements for the class of 2025.

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