Financial Literacy Legislation Goes Local

by | 12/15/13 | Commentary, Insight, Uncategorized

The trend of sponsoring and endorsing the passage of financial literacy legislation is gaining more momentum at local levels.  Over the course of the last several years, many nations have promulgated federal level financial education legislation designed to better educate their populace regarding financial concepts in an effort to empower them to make more informed personal financial decisions for themselves and their families.  Amid this focus on institutionalizing financial education by virtue of legislation that requires the implementation of financial literacy programs on a national scale, many states and provinces in these countries similarly have moved forward with their own regulations, which often are even more robust than those at the federal level.

With the rates of financial illiteracy still at staggering levels, financial education legislation is now becoming even more local.  In one of the latest examples of this trend, Florida State Senator Dorothy Hukill (R-Port Orange) and Rep. Heather Fitzenhagen (R-Fort Myers) have initiated legislation that would make a full-semester financial literacy course a requirement for high school graduation.  The Personal Financial Literacy Education Act would require no less than one-half credit for instruction in financial education, boosting the overall number of credits in electives from 7.5 to 8.

The Florida legislators sponsoring the bill contend that a lack of knowledge around money management among the state’s youth is a major force resulting in widespread financial illiteracy in the state, not only among young people, but also among adults since, they argue, financial education is not taught to students in a formalized way in kindergarten through the twelfth grade.  They objective is to change that with the passage of the Personal Financial Literacy Education Act.

The proposed legislation in Florida is reflective of the move by other states and localities to implement regulations that make financial education a requirement.   The bill, if passed, would result in Florida becoming the sixth state in the U.S. to have formal financial literacy instruction as a required prerequisite to graduate high school  This trend is expected to increase significantly in 2014 and beyond, as financial literacy continues to be an increasing focus at all levels of government.

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