Financial Literacy Added as Graduation Requirement
Financial Literacy Added as Graduation Requirement
Posted on 03/24/2022
The Class of 2026 will soon have a new graduation requirement. At the March 21 meeting, the Puyallup School Board approved a recommendation to require modification of high school graduation requirements to include a .5 credit semester-long financial literacy course. The new graduation requirement will be in place for the Class of 2026 and beyond.
The financial literacy course graduation requirement will help ensure all graduates have the knowledge and skills to manage financial resources, such as managing a bank, creating a budget, establishing credit, filing taxes, retirement, investing and more.
Financial literacy is currently offered as a year-long Career and Technical Education (CTE) elective for students in grades 10-12, with about 23 percent of high school students taking the course prior to graduation.
As part of the newly adopted graduation requirement, financial literacy will be offered to 11th and 12th grade students as a semester-long course with focused content using the current EverFi and Next Gen Personal Finance curriculum. The course will begin to be offered in the 2024-2025 school year.
The move to make financial literacy a graduation requirement began in January when the school board requested that staff research the possibility of adding the requirement to provide graduates with the practical and relevant personal financial knowledge and skills they will need for the future. Staff then researched and developed a plan to effectively implement the requirement, which was adopted by the school board.
The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and State Board of Education are also in the preliminary stages of potentially adding financial literacy as a graduation requirement statewide. In any case, Puyallup graduates will be ahead of the curve in acquiring these valuable life skills as they go off into the world after high school.