California voters could require all high school students to take a class on personal finance.
Monday, California Secretary of State Shirley Weber announced that a proposed ballot initiative to enforce such a class entered into circulation.
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The big picture: If voters approve the initiative, a one-semester personal finance course would be added to public high school graduation requirements.
- Schools would be required to have students take the course beginning with the class of 2030, meaning it would start by the 2026-2027 school year.
- Current requirements include one semester of an economics course, which are not required to include personal finance curriculum.
- Students could fulfill the requirement by completing an existing University of California-approved personal finance course, or a new course.
- The state estimates that schools would see a potential increase in costs in the “high tens of millions” of dollars for the first few years before declining over time.
- Timothy Ranzetta, the founder of nonprofit Next Gen Personal Finance, and attorney Christopher Kaufman submitted the initiative to the state.
What we’re watching: In order to be placed on the ballot, proponents need to collect 546,651 signatures – five percent of the total votes cast for governor in November 2022.
- Signatures need to be submitted by May 7.
