California high school students will need to complete financial literacy classes to graduate.
The semester-long personal finance course will cover topics including the principles of budgeting for independent living, managing credit scores, types of insurance and how to detect a scam.
The course will be available for all high school students in California by the 2027/28 school year, and it will be made mandatory by 2030/31.
“We need to help Californians prepare for their financial futures as early as possible. “Saving for the future, making investments, and spending wisely are lifelong skills that young adults need to learn before they start their careers, not after.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom announcing a new agreement to make financial literacy mandatory for all school students.
Criticisms of California’s financial literacy program
Some experts are concerned about adding to an already crammed academic schedule. Troy Flint, chief information officer for the California School Boards Association, said financial literacy could have been incorporated into existing school requirements.
He told the Los Angeles Times: “Financial literacy instruction could be included within that larger preexisting economics course without further cluttering the class schedule for high school students — and reducing their ability to take an elective course or a course of interest to them.”
