Hat tip to Christian for compiling these news stories that show the momentum building across the country for increasing access to financial education.

• Esther Richardson, a senior at Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn made such an eloquent case for financial education. She was asked by New York Times (Esther appears in the 2nd video): What would you change about your education?

Her response: What I would change would be to incorporate more life skills that we would need...such as paying our bills, how to have a good credit score, how to buy a house, how to save our money, how to file our taxes...because I'm going to need them when I become more independent.

• Orchard Park High School mulling a personal finance course requirement for students (Orchard Park Bee). Thank you Lisa for being such an incredible advocate for financial education! 

“We would like to evolve that current 1/2-credit requirement for computers and have it be responsive to a life skill that is a need in our society. A need that I think we need to equip our students with before they leave us, and that’s financial literacy,” said Lisa Krueger, the district’s assistant superintendent for curriculum, during the Feb. 11 Board of Education meeting."

• NGPF's Chief Advocacy Officer Dan O'Connell testified with Naomi Boyd of West Virginia University at an Education Committee hearing in the West Virginia Senate. West Virginia lawmakers are considering making financial literacy course a requirement for graduation (WOWK): 

"House Bill 2775 would require each high school student in West Virginia to complete a one-credit course in personal finance as a requirement for graduation. Nitro High School student Amanda Skidmore said it is a good idea. “Knowing how to prepare taxes and manage my money for car insurance and rent and everything about that I have no clue,” Skidmore said."

• South Carolina rolling out a Master Teacher program to train a cadre of teachers (The Times and Democrat).

State Treasurer Curtis Loftis is taking an important step in that direction with the new South Carolina Financial Literacy Master Teacher Program, a statewide initiative that aims to energize more teachers about the importance of incorporating personal finance education into their classrooms."

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.