• At Arbutus Middle School, students gain insight on personal finance (The Baltimore Sun)

Want to know the difference between disposable and discretionary income? Ask these eighth-graders. “Disposable income is what you have left after you pay taxes and before you pay your bills,” said Justin Maddox, an eighth-grader at Arbutus Middle School who lives in Baltimore Highlands. “Discretionary income is what you have after you get the taxes off and you pay your bills. It’s basically what you have what left over.” Justin was one of eight students in the school’s Academy of Finance program, designed to give students an introduction to money management.

• Personal finance education may be required at Wisconsin public schools (Journal Sentinel)

Along with teaching reading, writing and math, Wisconsin public schools could be assigned another fundamental mission — helping students understand basic personal finance concepts such as credit, compound interest, and budgeting. With bipartisan support, the state Assembly last week passed a bill that would require public schools to incorporate financial literacy into their kindergarten-through-12th-grade curriculum.

• New Madison School District policy requires students to take financial literacy class to graduate (The Capital Times)

• Band promotes financial literacy (Suffolk News-Herald)

The Gooding Band brought their Financial Literacy Tour to the Career and Technical Education Program at Nansemond River High School. Students from all grade levels had the opportunity to attend the concert.

• Ridgefield High School business teacher wins national teacher innovator award (The Ridgefield Press)

Ridgefield business teacher Jesse Peterkin’s project “Create a Financial Plan” won the 2017 Next Gen Personal Finance (NGPF) Teacher Innovator Award. His project uses celebrities and avatars as hooks to engage students in developing comprehensive financial plans for their “clients.” Jesse appeared in a recent Next Gen Personal Finance podcast to discuss his award-winning lesson as well as his business and teaching experiences.

About the Author

Laura Matchett

After graduating with an education degree and spending 7 years in an elementary classroom, Laura made the switch to the non-profit world and loves interacting with students, educators and business professionals across the country. She is passionate about all students having access to high quality education and views personal finance education as one way to ‘level the playing field’. When Laura is not locating or creating high quality educational resources, you can find her mountain biking or searching for the best ramen in town!