Illinois bill would require personal finance course in high school

[March 11, 2023]  By Glenn Minnis | The Center Square contributor

(The Center Square) – State Sen. Kimberly Lightford is pushing a bill that would require all high school students to take a semester-long personal finance course before graduating.

State Sen. Kimberly Lightford, D-Maywood, speaks at a news conference on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2020.

Senate Bill 1266 strives to make sure students learn about managing money before earning a high school diploma, with the course covering everything from banking, to bill payment, to investing, to managing credit and paying for college.

The bill would affect the freshman class of the 2024 to 2025 school year, with those students required to take the course as a junior or senior before receiving their diploma.

The proposed bill comes on the heels of a new Wirepoints report that outlines how Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) data shows not a single student at no less than 53 schools across the state can do math at grade level. The numbers are nearly just as bleak in reading, where the report looked at 30 schools with at least 22 of them being part of the Chicago Public Schools system.

Overall, researchers found that only 1 out of 10 kids or fewer can do math at grade level in 930 schools.

Wirepoints President Ted Dabrowski, who co-authored the website's schools report, isn’t sure how much difference Lightford’s proposal will make, even if it becomes law.

“Every kid should learn about finances and how to manage their financial future, but the first priority for Illinois leaders should be to assure that kids can read and do math and today that’s not happening,” he told The Center Square. “Instead of adding another mandate for this they should mandate that schools massively elevate the percentage of kids who can read and do math in Illinois schools.”

Despite Wirepoints' findings, many of the schools where some students are struggling the most were rated “commendable” by ISBE.

Dabrowski worries SB 1266 could just be more window dressing.

“It’s not lost on me that this could be just another mandate to make legislatures feel like they’re doing something,” he said. “If they really want to do something they should pass a law that says no kid in the third grade will advance to the fourth before they can read at grade level.”

SB 1266 is now awaiting a hearing in the Senate Education Committee.

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