Financial Education Public-Private Partnership grant will give schools the opportunity to qualify for grants supporting financial education.
CHENEY – For generations, high school students have complained about learning all kinds of things including how to write a five-paragraph essay, find the hypotenuse of a triangle and do textual analysis. But acquiring skills like how to balance a checkbook, pay off loans or learn ways to create a financial budget have been overlooked in curriculum.
New legislation is attempting to change that.
On March 30, Governor Jay Inslee signed Senate bill 5720 into law that requires all school districts, charter schools and state-tribal compact schools to adopt at least one goal that expands the financial education instruction for students by March 23, 2023.
Financial Education Coordinator and Communications Chair of the Financial Education Public-Private Partnership (FEPPP) Executive Committee John McKenney, said in a recent press release the bill will give schools the opportunity to qualify for grants that will be handed out through FEPPP.
The grant would increase integration of financial education courses into school districts and financial literacy education into professional development training for certificated staff.
The bill is intended to create additional financial education course opportunities for students in grades 9-12 and provide a general increase in the amount of schools providing access to this kind of curriculum.
"We'll release the framework of what they'd consider a plan in September. As of right now, I don't know what our model goals will be," said Adam Smith Director of the Career and Technical Education (CTE) Program at Cheney High School (CHS).
Cheney School District is ahead of the game when it comes to finance courses for students.
Smith said these kinds of classes already exist at CHS because he followed national trends.
"Cheney School District created personal finance classes for our students and we had eight sections for personal finance offered this year. Next year we're going to offer five," Smith said. "The states of Florida and Texas over the last couple of years have mandated personal finance classes for their students."
The district's business education department placed a high priority on the finance courses as soon as it discovered its importance in student's lives.
Financial algebra is one of the personal finance classes offered at CHS and it's contributing to students' journeys as lifelong learners.
"The goal is to take students from their first job application to business ownership and retirement," Smith said. "They can get college credit for the class at Spokane Community College and it works to get credit in a lot of different programs at SCC."
To meet the requirements of the bill, CSD will have more goals for expanding financial education by March 1, 2023 deadline.
"I'm happy the State put something into this. We have a need for students to make smart financial decisions when they leave high school," Smith said. "They need to understand exactly what decisions they're making as well as the repercussions of those decisions. All of our CTE teachers have been advocates to help students understand personal finance."
Michaela is a former newsroom intern at the Cheney Free Press. She covered stories on education, city government, cops/courts/fire departments and local businesses.
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