Florida To Require High School Financial Literacy Class To Graduate

Original Article By Selim Algar At NYPost.com

It will soon be reading, writing, and return on investments for Sunshine State students.

A bill signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday requires all Florida kids to take and pass a basic financial literacy course to graduate from high school.

The skills prioritized by the legislation will be “applicable in their lives regardless of what path they take,” DeSantis said Tuesday at a Tampa press conference.

Worth half a credit, the course will be required beginning in the 2023-2024 school year, the Florida governor said.

“This will provide a foundation for students to learn about the basics of money management — understanding debt, understanding how to balance a checkbook, understanding the fundamentals of investing,” he said.

Yanely Espinal, a Brooklyn native who works with the nonprofit Next Gen Personal Finance, also endorsed the spirit of the legislation at Tuesday’s press conference.

“As a daughter of immigrant parents, we were in a household where it was cash only,” she said. “So I realized very quickly that online banking and investing apps, trading apps, budgeting apps, cryptocurrency — the world of money is changing so fast. And if we don’t help our students keep up, the next generation is going to repeat cycles of a lack of financial literacy.”

Concerned over a lack of basic money management skills among young Americans, an increasing number of states are seeking to incorporate or require financial literacy classes in their curriculums.