Cash course

As Washington and Greene county students head back to school this fall, many will learn about personal finance, even though it is not a state requirement.
Twenty-six states, including Pennsylvania, have no mandate about personal finance education, though it may be taught as an elective, according to the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy.
However, four states require at least a one-semester course devoted to personal finance and 20 require personal finance instruction be incorporated into other subject matter, according to the coalition website.
Laura Levine, executive director for the coalition, said most requirements are set at the state level; however, in Pennsylvania, it’s determined at the local level.
Levine said personal finance needs to be taught in schools because so many people are struggling financially and children may not get guidance at home.
“Parents ought to be the first teachers of personal finance and money management,” she said. “Schools need to help with this.”
Levine said she’s not sure there’s a conventional wisdom of the best approach to teaching about finances. Most experts say introduce it early in an age-appropriate fashion when kids are learning behaviors and habits. Just as you teach kids about brushing their teeth and eating healthy, teach them about savings, she said.
“When they get to middle and high school, they will have something to build on,” she said.
More than half of kids in this country don’t get financial education at school, she said.
There’s been a recent increase of states with personal finance education requirements, but she doesn’t attribute that to the latest financial meltdown.
Those requirements were in the pipeline ahead of the recession.
“I think we will see an even greater amount as we come out of the recession,” she said.
Washington Superintendent Roberta DiLorenzo said that some personal finance information is available in elective business courses. The district also offers Career Planning 1 and 2, which offers some personal finance information.
However, the staff has been discussing revisions to the family consumer science curriculum to add personal survival skills, which will include caretaking and finances, DiLorenzo said. Should that revision happen, it wouldn’t be until the 2011-12 school year.
“I think there’s a greater need to educate our students about that before they leave,” she said. “Managing your money is a priority.”
DiLorenzo said the district is also working with the Washington Area Teachers Federal Credit Union to potentially bring an age-appropriate finance program into the school.
Credit Union CEO Joe Marzullo said the credit union doesn’t have a prepared program and is waiting for the go-ahead from the school board.
However, he said officials are talking about creating a program that teaches little ones about savings and “growing it up” as they get older.
Financial institutions do have an interest in educating students, Marzullo said.
“An educated consumer is a better consumer,” he said, adding that it’s important for people to know how to get along financially.
Marzullo wouldn’t say classes about personal finance should be required.
“I won’t go there. I wouldn’t be so presumptuous to say it should be mandatory,” he said, adding he would leave that to educators. “But do I think it’s important? Yeah. I think it’s a good idea.”
Charleroi Superintendent Brad Ferko said the district has personal finance lessons in family consumer science classes, but they are electives. Charleroi also has a Life 101 class that goes over the transition into adulthood.
It’s about “things they need to know to be successful,” such as renting an apartment, buying a car and buying furniture instead of renting it, Ferko said.
Ferko said he wishes he had the staff to run family consumer science for every senior.
“It’s such an important message,” he said.
Charleroi probably won’t hire more staff to teach that, but the district needs to fit it into other classes, Ferko said.
West Greene Middle-Senior High School Principal Anthony Paull said the district doesn’t have standalone courses about personal finance, but it is included in family consumer science classes. West Greene also has an elective called home management, which includes lessons about everything from food preparation to financial resource management, he said.
Family consumer science is mandatory in seventh grade at West Greene. The district offers career education in seventh and 11th grades, which includes personal finance information, Paull said.
The school also offers a political science/economics course, where students can spend several weeks learning about economics.
Paul said schools should teach this kind of information.
“It’s a lifelong skill,” he said “It’s a skill that needs to be used every day.”

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