Required financial literacy course coming to a York County school district
FORT MILL, S.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Before you are legally allowed to drink, gamble or rent a car – teenagers are able to make a financial decision that can impact them for the rest of their lives.
“I have 50-year-old clients who are still paying off their student loans,” said Markia Brown, a financial education instructor and accredited financial counselor.
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Brown teaches clients across the country how to better manage their money, something she says U.S. school systems should have been doing for decades.
“We learn about the Pythagorean theorem, and I never used it after I graduated, but you literally think about money every single day, even before your graduate,” Brown said.
With no federal laws requiring financial literacy to be taught in the classroom, some states are taking it upon themselves to pass legislation.
Last year, South Carolina joined a growing list of states, including North Carolina, to tweak their high school graduation criteria. The S.C. Department of Education approved requirements that entail students to complete a course on financial literacy in order to graduate.
“This is an important thing for students to learn, regardless of whether you are going into college or you are going into career out of high school,” said Joe Burke, chief spokesperson for the Fort Mill School District.
While the Fort Mill School District says it has already been offering students optional classes on finance, this week, its school board passed a new mandatory half-credit class.
“No matter what your path it, this is something that is going to be important to you for the rest of your life, and we believe this is a topic that is something we should be preparing kids for in their future,” Burke said.
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The district says the course is still being worked out, but will include topics like how to handle a checking account, work with banks and personal financing.
“I am really hoping that this will eventually become a 50-state thing,” Brown said. “Like, this is just the standard here. We are doing everything that we can to ensure that our children are receiving the best education possible.”
The new course at Fort Mill high schools will go into effect with the district’s current freshmen class. Burke says they will likely take the course during the next school year.
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