Financial literacy could soon be a high school graduation requirement in California

By Dominic Garcia

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    SACRAMENTO, California (KOVR) — California high school students might need to add another class in order to graduate if lawmakers certify a proposal that would add financial literacy to the list of graduation requirements.

However, some schools in the Sacramento area are already offering these types of courses. Mesa Verde High School in Citrus Heights is one of those schools and they have seen some great results.

When she started high school, money management was the last thing on Adelisa Dubravac’s mind.

So it’s funny we found her working at the Safe Credit Union branch inside Mesa Verde. It’s there that students learn the ins and outs of banking.

“Learning how to do the bills, or learning how much money to spend, manage,” Dubravac said. “I wish I learned that when I was a bit younger.”

It’s a partnership between Safe Credit Union and the San Juan Unified School District, and it’s just one of the tools the district has to teach students personal finance.

“It’s not just book learning. It’s hands-on partnerships,” Spencer Murrish said.

Murrish is a business academy teacher at Mesa Verde. It’s one of the school’s career technical education programs.

“It’s vital to have programs like this not only to help them learn the greater concepts of how to run a business, but it starts with personal management and finance, and personal finance and responsibility to become a responsible member of society,” Murrish said.

All this is an example of what schools in California could look like if lawmakers certify a proposal that would add financial literacy to the list of graduation requirements. Murrish said real-world experiences really grab students’ attention.

“You can be driving and your car breaks down. It’s just $300 to have someone look at it, and they go, ‘No way it’s that much,’ ” he said. “And we write out a budget of so, if you’re making $17 an hour out of high school, how much room do you have with the average rent and stuff like that?”

How to open a checking account, manage money, compound interest – these are practices that can make a huge difference in someone’s life. But it’s not all about money.

“A big part of business is being an ethical human being,” Murrish said. “Running an ethical company, trying your very best to do your very best.”

It seems to be rubbing off. Students like Dubravac are making those small decisions that can set them up for a lifetime of success.

“I’ve learned how to spend not a lot of money, [and] really think like, ‘Do I need it or nah?’ ” she said.

If financial literacy does become part of California students’ graduation requirements, the class of 2030 would be the first group of students that need this class to graduate.

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