Education officials should not weaken financial education requirement

High School students in the Salem-Keizer School District (shown here) and elsewhere will need finance training to graduate by 2027. (Courtesy of the Salem-Keizer School District)

Oregon has finally caught up to the many other states that require high school students to pass a personal finance course as a graduation requirement with a  landmark bill that passed the Legislature and was signed by Gov. Tina Kotek in 2023.

Senate Bill 3 requires students to take lessons in personal finance and career preparation to graduate by 2027, but today, as the Oregon Board of Education is adopting rules for implementing the requirement, officials appear poised to dismantle the intent of the law by not requiring schools to provide students with a dedicated personal finance class at all.

The Department of Education has recommended that schools be allowed to not offer a stand-alone class in personal finance and instead use existing courses in other subjects to include various personal finance standards. The board may finalize the rule by next month.

This clearly contradicts both the overwhelming intent of the Legislature as well as the language used in the legislation itself. Throughout public testimony on the bill before the Senate Education Committee, legislators and advocates universally referenced the need for financial literacy “courses.”  The testimony was clear that only a comprehensive course in managing personal finances would meet the new requirement and provide our children with the tools they need to be successful as adults. Numerous teachers testified, strongly urging the Legislature to enact a universal requirement.

What the department is recommending is nothing more than the status quo, where various financial education principles are sprinkled throughout other class coursework, rather than a structured curriculum to close the financial equity gap. That approach has proven inadequate. The Department of Education even testified that personal finance was best taught as a stand-alone course. The Legislature agreed. Legislators and the public believed that is exactly what happened with the passage of SB 3. In fact, the state treasurer, whose office issues an Oregon Financial Wellness Scorecard every year, heralded the legislation by noting; “Students who graduate in 2027 or later will need to complete a semester-long personal finance class.”

How can the board violate the Legislature’s clear intent?

This likely evolves from concerns expressed by some school officials of adding additional graduation requirements to the school day. Legislators and advocates worked to address those concerns by allowing a personal finance course to also count towards other existing requirements depending on how the course is structured. For example, a personal finance course taught by a math teacher, who uses math principles to show students how to calculate interest rates, or determine loan amortization, might also allow that student to meet a math credit as well. An economics teacher who combines mortgage lending instruction with the socio-economic impact of home ownership on community vitality might also qualify students to receive a social studies credit.

But the personal finance course was the foundation. The additional credit evolves only from the basis of the personal finance course.

Failure to follow the legislative intent will only further the inequities prevalent in the education system today. While some schools already offer a personal finance course, they are generally confined to schools in higher socio-economic communities. Studies have clearly demonstrated that a universally applied requirement is the best approach to removing that inequity for all our students.

Resources are available for schools from education services districts like the Willamette Education Service District in Salem, with credit unions and other nonprofits in Oregon dedicated to providing instructional materials and teacher education.

By focusing on accessing these resources to help with meeting the new requirements, rather than diluting them, the board would remain true to the legislative intent and provide students with the concentrated and thorough instruction they will need as they enter adulthood.

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