CALIFORNIA, USA — California leaders outlined their plan to implement the state's new financial literacy graduation requirement for high schoolers on Thursday.
In a virtual meeting Thursday, officials discussed efforts to ensure all public high school students have access to a stand-alone personal finance course by 2027.
State Superintendent Tony Thurmond said Next Gen Personal Finance will partner with the state to help raise money to support professional development for the educators who will teach the required classes.
"A model curriculum draft will be created to give educators an example of what it will look like in their classrooms. We will have writers, many who have teaching experience, who will work together to create a draft, and that work will be underway shortly," Thurmond said.
Benjamin Akioyame, a personal finance teacher at Hoover High School in Fresno, emphasized the real-world relevance of personal finance.
"You are going to care about taking a really nice vacation one day when you retire, or being able to pay for your future children's college or just being a philanthropist and being able to give money away because you can — this matters to them because it has a real world application," Akioyame said.
Supporters of the new law say personal finance education equips students with essential life skills for financial independence and success.
One report by Tyton Partners finds the average individual lifetime benefit for the nearly half-a million California high school students who will take the personal finance course is $127,000 dollars.
Local educators and economic experts say finance can seem intimidating at first, but students should start small, like knowing basic financial terms and what a credit score means.
WATCH ALSO:
