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Over 200 Massachusetts banks have come together with hopes of making personal finance education a state high school graduation requirement.
The Mass Bankers, the trade association for the state’s banks, helped coordinate the Beacon Hill lobbying effort and has also advocated for the bill.
Association members recently testified before lawmakers in support of Methuen state Rep. Ryan M. Hamilton‘s bill H.594, which calls for each public schools serving in grades nine through 12 to provide at least one “experiential personal financial literacy learning opportunity” for each student.
“Every day in our work as community bankers, we see the opportunities—and the challenges—that come from financial decisions,” Newburyport-based Institution For Savings President and CEO Michael Jones said in written testimony submitted for the Sept. 16 hearing. “What too often makes the difference is whether someone had the chance to learn the basics of money management early in life. We believe Massachusetts must join the growing number of states that require a personal finance course for every public high school student before graduation.”
According to Next Gen Personal Finance, a national nonprofit that tracks financial literacy, 30 states guarantee that every high school student will take a stand-alone personal finance course before graduating. That includes fellow New England states, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rhode Island.
Additionally, only 34 percent of Americans can answer 4 out of 5 basic financial literacy questions correctly, according to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. Additional research from FINRA has shown that high school students who complete personal finance courses have lower rates of credit card delinquency and make better post-secondary financing choices, Mass Bankers said.
“Massachusetts has always believed in investing in education as the foundation for opportunity,” Jones said. “Requiring a personal finance course is a natural extension of that belief. We urge you to act now and enact one of the several pieces of legislation this session to make personal finance education a requirement for every Massachusetts public high school student. As bankers we see the consequences of financial unpreparedness far too often. We also see the promise of what’s possible when people are given the tools to succeed.”
