Credit: Towfiqu barbhuiya
California will be helping teens mold their futures as early as possible, by requiring every high schooler to pass a financial literacy course.
Legislation now being implemented after its passage in 2024 made California the 26th state to require a stand-alone personal finance course for all public high school students (including charter schools).
The one-semester course mandated to start by the Fall 2027, will cover 13 money management topics, including banking, debt, and building wealth.
More examples include:
- Banking – savings and checking accounts; minimizing fees
- Credit scores – the relation of debt and interest to credit
- Loans
- Income taxes – how they work, reading tax forms and pay stubs
- Investing and building wealth – tax-beneficial pensions and 401(k) plans, IRAs, stocks, bonds, mutual and index funds
- Handling insurance
- Common scams and frauds and preventing identity theft
- Creating budgets and tracking expenses
- Identifying means to finance college, workforce education, including low-cost community college options, and other career technical educational pathways or apprenticeships
“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,” said Governor Gavin Newsom this week.
Some California school districts haven’t waited for the state. They’ve already rolled out financial literacy courses—and they’ve been very popular with students.
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Since 2023, Fresno Unified, the state’s third-largest school district, has been pioneering personal finance education, and the classes have been some of the district’s most sought-after electives.
A local teacher helping with the state’s rollout reports “high student engagement”, saying lessons on retirement plans, savings, budgets, and building credit scores have been some of the most meaningful.
A national financial literacy nonprofit, Next Gen Personal Finance, has been a lead proponent of the CA initiative, and offers courses online for all ages.
The group, with its Mission 2030 Fund that supports thousands of educators nationwide, currently counts 30 US states that have agreed to guarantee a personal finance course for teens in school—with 11 fully implemented already, and 19, including California, in the process of completing.
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