Amended in Senate June 5, 2013

Amended in Assembly April 1, 2013

Amended in Assembly March 11, 2013

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly BillNo. 166


Introduced by Assembly Member Roger Hernández

begin insert

(Principal coauthor: Senator Lieu)

end insert

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Ian Calderon,begin insert Fox,end insert Mullin,begin delete andend delete Tingbegin insert, and Wilkend insert)

January 23, 2013


An act to amendbegin delete Sections 51282 and 51824end deletebegin insert Section 51284end insert of, and to amend the heading of Article 6 (commencing with Section 51280) of Chapter 2 of Part 28 of Division 4 of Title 2 of, the Education Code, relating to pupil instruction.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 166, as amended, Roger Hernández. Pupil instruction: financial literacy.

Existing law requires a school district, as part of its adopted course of study for grades 7 to 12, inclusive, to offer courses in specified areas of study, including, among others, social sciences, drawing upon the disciplines of anthropology, economics, geography, history, political science, psychology, and sociology.begin delete Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to make available to teachers a curriculum, as specified, on, among other things, financial preparedness. Existing law also requires the State Board of Education to integrate, among other things, financial preparedness with specified academic areas, as specified.end delete

begin insert

Existing law requires the State Board of Education, after January 1, 2003, and concurrently with, but not prior to, the next revision of textbooks or curriculum frameworks in the social sciences, health, and mathematics curricula, to ensure that these academic areas integrate components of human growth, human development, and human contribution to society, across the life course, and also financial preparedness.

end insert

This bill wouldbegin delete revise the curriculum that is required to be made available, to instead require the Superintendent to make available a curriculum that includes instruction onend deletebegin insert require the state board to integrateend insert financial literacy, including, but not limited to, budgeting and managing credit, student loans,begin delete and debt. The bill would also require the state board to integrate financial literacy, as specified,end deletebegin insert consumer debt, and identity theft securityend insert with those specified academic areas. The bill would also make conformingbegin insert and nonsubstantiveend insert changes.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

P2    1

SECTION 1.  

The Legislature finds and declares all of the
2following:

3(a) California does not have an official statewide policy or
4educational plan for the teaching of financial literacy.

5(b) According to the 2011 Consumer Financial Literacy Survey
6Final Report of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling,
7one in three adults in the United States reported that they had no
8savings.

9(c) Two in five adults give themselves a grade of C, D, or F on
10their knowledge of personal finance.

11(d) Ninety-three percent of Americans indicated in a 2010 Visa
12survey that they believe all high school students should be required
13to take a class in financial literacy.

14(e) A biennial survey by Jump$tart Coalition for Personal
15Financial Literacy, conducted from 1997 to 2008, inclusive,
16showed that financial literacy of high school seniors had fallen
17from 57 percent in 1997 to a record low of 48 percent in 2008.

18(f) A 2011 Junior Achievement and Allstate Foundation survey
19revealed nearly 50 percent of American teenagers are unsure how
P3    1to use a credit card effectively, yet 24 percent believe high school
2or younger is when they should get their first credit card.

3(g) According to a 2011 Capitol One survey of the students
4planning to take out student loans, 44 percent of the students said
5that they have either not discussed with their parents how student
6loans work, or they have had a brief conversation with little detail.

7(h) Financial literacy education is an essential component of
8preparing individuals to manage money, credit, and debt, and of
9becoming responsible workers, heads of households, investors,
10entrepreneurs, business leaders, and citizens.

11(i) The teaching of financial literacy skills empowers young
12Californians with the tools they need to enter a globally competitive
13workforce.

14(j) In recognition of the importance of teaching financial literacy,
1546 states report having personal finance standards in various forms,
16while 13 of those states include personal finance instruction as
17part of their graduation requirement.

18(k) At this crucial economic time, it is imperative that California
19encourage the provision of financial literacy instruction for all
20students.

21

SEC. 2.  

The heading of Article 6 (commencing with Section
2251280) of Chapter 2 of Part 28 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the 23Education Code is amended to read:

24 

25Article 6.  Primary Education Model Curriculum for Lifelong
26Health, Aging, and Financial Literacy
27

 

begin delete
28

SEC. 3.  

Section 51282 of the Education Code is amended to
29read:

30

51282.  

(a) It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation
31to establish educational requirements in order to instill in
32California’s youth a sense of importance about lifelong financial
33planning and preparation, including, among other things, the costs
34of health care, in a much-extended later life.

35(b) Educational institutions have developed a model curriculum
36in lifelong healthy aging and financial literacy, with materials, free
37of charge, for the Superintendent to disseminate to school teachers
38at the local level.

39(c) The Superintendent shall make this existing curriculum
40available to teachers, using materials that are currently available
P4    1at no cost, with information and links provided through the Internet,
2in order to provide to pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, instruction
3on human growth, human development, and financial literacy,
4including, but not limited to, budgeting and managing credit,
5student loans, and debt.

end delete
6

begin deleteSEC. 4.end delete
7begin insertSEC. 3.end insert  

Section 51284 of the Education Code is amended to
8read:

9

51284.  

Concurrently with, but not prior to, the next revision
10ofbegin delete text booksend deletebegin insert textbooksend insert or curriculum frameworks in the social
11sciences, health, and mathematics curricula, the state board shall
12ensure that these academic areas integrate components of human
13growth, human development, and human contribution to society,
14across the life course, and also financial literacy, including, but
15not limited to, budgeting and managing credit, student loans,begin delete andend delete
16begin insert consumerend insert debtbegin insert, and identity theft securityend insert.



O

    96