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

Separately, California lawmakers recently added an ethnic studies course to the list of mandated classes.

Minimum graduation requirements include three years of English and two of mathematics, including one year of algebra. There also are two years of science, including biological and physical sciences and three of social studies, as well as two years of physical education, one year of visual or performing arts, world language, or career technical education.

There are additional requirements if a student wishes to apply to a four-year state college, and selective universities carefully evaluate the rigor of a student's advanced coursework. Individual school districts often have their own added requirements as well.

L.A. high school teacher Colleen Ancrile said her school builds financial literacy into its advisory program, a class similar to the homeroom of old. "Adding a course to all of the other requirements will be a scheduling difficulty. Financial Literacy should be embedded starting in elementary school. Outreach to accounting firms to come in (is) actually a better idea."

"Great idea but difficult to implement," said L.A. parent Beth Owen. "The requirements to graduate are already quite cumbersome and often at the end a student discovers they are missing something and have to scramble ... Electives are often courses that happen yearly, like band. It doesn't work to have to drop something like that for a semester. Or it's leadership or yearbook— yearlong commitments that are valuable."

Los Angeles-area parent Irene Luczynski was "surprised" by how few opportunities there are for her 9th-grade son to take electives: "There's really no room for him to branch out and try something new, and isn't that what electives are supposed to do ... Perhaps this is trivial, but where's the fun in school?"

However, momentum appears to be building for financial literacy. The number of states that guarantee personal finance education for high school students has grown from 8 in 2021 to 26, according to Ranzetta's organization, which tracks the issue.

In an earlier analysis, the Center for Financial Literacy at Champlain College gave California an F in the topic: "Personal finance is not included in the graduation requirements, either as a stand-alone course or embedded in another course, and schools are not required to offer financial literacy courses."

Researchers gave California some credit because the state education department offers "a robust list of financial literacy resources."

In addition, the state's CalMoneySmart program provides annual grants of up to $200,000 to nonprofit organizations to "provide financial education and financial empowerment programs and services for unbanked and underbanked Californians."

A report by the consulting firm Tyton Partners concluded that the lifetime benefit for California students of taking a one-semester high school personal finance course is $127,000 — although such figures are hard to prove and ultimately abstract to the real-world experience of young adults.

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