California's new high school requirement: Balance a checkbook, manage credit, avoid scams

California students will have to complete a course in pocketbook economics — balancing a checkbook, managing credit cards, avoiding scams — to graduate from high school under a bill that will become law, state lawmakers announced Thursday.

"We need to help Californians prepare for their financial futures as early as possible," Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement. "Saving for the future, making investments and spending wisely are lifelong skills that young adults need to learn before they start their careers, not after."

This bill — which has drawn criticism from those concerned about another requirement on crammed academic schedules — orders school districts and charter schools to offer a standalone, one-semester course in personal finance. To meet the requirement, the class cannot be combined with any other course beginning in the 2027-28 school year.

Students graduating in 2031 will have to pass the class.

The agreement among state lawmakers avoids a ballot-box verdict by voters. Backers of the new requirement had gathered enough signatures to place the proposed requirement, dubbed the California Personal Finance Initiative, on the November ballot. They will now shut down that effort.

The new requirement and the bill that will make it law "will benefit countless future generations of Californians," said Tim Ranzetta, a wealthy Silicon Valley businessman who bankrolled the signature gathering for the ballot initiative and also supported the legislation.

Thursday was the legal deadline for Ranzetta to withdraw the ballot initiative, which he said he would do if an adequate version of the requirement was guaranteed to become law.

"I want to thank all the people who worked with us on this legislation," Ranzetta said.

Ranzetta heads a nonprofit, Next Gen Personal Finance, that provides free curriculum and teacher training. He said the materials have reached nearly 100,000 teachers across the country, including more than 6,000 in California.

Although there is broad agreement on the importance of financial literacy — not everyone supports the requirement or the process that brought it about.

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