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.

Here's the updated BillTracker, as of 2/28/22 with 26 states introducing 50 bills pertaining to K-12 financial education. One measure of the attention that legislatures are paying to this topic is that 10 states currently guarantee a financial education course for all high schoolers. So, of the 40 states that don't currently have a guarantee, 24 of them (60%) have proposed bills. 

Here are the new bills introduced since the last update (with introduction date):

• California (2/15 and 2/16): One bill creates a public/private partnership while the other would create a grant program to support financial education
• Minnesota (2/28): Changes grad requirements from an Economics requirement to Economics OR Personal Finance
• South Dakota (introduced earlier but just added to tracker): Codify minimum requirements for high school graduation including one-half unit of personal finance OR economics 
• West Virginia (2/15 and 2/24): One bill created a pilot program in 5 schools, the other would guarantee high school students complete a one credit course in personal finance

Here's recent media stories tracking bills in various states: 

California

• ‘Everyone is paying attention for their own sake’: Finance classes prepare San Diego students for real life (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Bill would increase access to financial literacy courses in high school (Paso Robles Daily News)

Florida

• A Florida high school diploma may soon require financial literacy, if lawmakers get their way (Washington Post)
• Florida House Supports Financial Literacy Requirement For High School Graduation (CBS Miami)

Wisconsin

• Wisconsin does not require a personal finance course to graduate high school. A new proposal seeks to change that. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

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Wondering what the state of financial education is in your state? Our Got Finance? tool has data on more than 10,000 high schools. 

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 Coming soon in April: NGPF's 2022 State of Financial Education report. Here's the 2021 report. 

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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