Vermont Pushes Aggressive Financial Education Reforms

by | 02/19/15 | Commentary, Uncategorized

The financial education community is stirring over the latest move by a coalition of Vermont financial literacy professionals and stakeholders to include financial education as part of the school curricula from kindergarten through grade twelve. An agenda to develop and launch an initiative to train educators on delivering a financial education program in schools also is being pushed determinedly.

The Vermont Financial Literacy Task Force is at the center of the calls for greater inclusion of financial education in the state’s school system. The Task Force just published a report containing a wide spectrum of recommendations that they believe would improve the way in which money management is taught to Vermonters.

The report also included some startling facts that underscore the passion that is driving this movement. Specifically, the report notes that over fifty percent of adults in Vermont have poor credit, while even fewer individuals are saving for retirement, notwithstanding the 401(k) and other retirement programs offered in their workplaces. Only seven of Vermont’s sixty-five high schools require a financial literacy class and the Task Force is working hard to mandate such a class in all of the state’s high schools.

The recommendations go beyond the inclusion of financial literacy courses with the school curriculum. Preparing teachers to deliver the instruction is also a key element of the proposal. Moreover, realizing that budgetary constraints in school districts statewide have resulted in limited resources for educators, the Task Force included recommendations that provide financial literacy courses via the Internet through the Vermont Virtual Learning Cooperative.

The following are the specific recommendations just published in Vermont:

1. Establish a Vermont Financial Literacy Commission with representation from business, education, government and nonprofit organizations.

2. Update Vermont’s existing personal economics and career choices education standards to be more consistent with highly regarded national and international financial literacy standards that have been adopted by many states.

3. Ensure that all Vermont high school students have access to a personal finance course.

4. Provide personal finance training opportunities to K-12 educators.

5. Create an online clearinghouse of vetted and trusted financial literacy resources for Vermont K-12 educators.

6. Establish financial literacy grants for K-12 schools and supervisory unions to launch new or materially enhance financial literacy education programs.

7. Offer access to robust financial literacy education opportunities to all Vermont college students.

8. Create a Financial Literacy Resource and Training Center for all colleges in the state to use.

9. Develop a partnership among all Vermont colleges to create a Virtual Career Center.

10. Create a pilot Child Savings Account Program.

11. Provide adults with a wide variety of personal finance learning opportunities, when and how they need them.

12. Increase the opportunities and incentives for low-income Vermonters to save and build assets.

13. Increase the percentage of Vermont employees who are saving for retirement.

Coalitions such as the group that developed and published the above recommendations in Vermont are forming and growing in many other U.S. states, as well as in other territories throughout the world. When key stakeholders get together in support of the mission of improving financial literacy, the results are showing that big changes can happen.

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