BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1492
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1492 (Evans)
As Introduced February 22, 2005
Majority vote
EDUCATION 11-0
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|Ayes:|Goldberg, Tran, Arambula, | | |
| |Coto, Hancock, Huff, Liu, | | |
| |Mullin, Pavley, Richman, | | |
| |Umberg | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Permits school districts to provide instruction in
economics courses related to the understanding of personal
finances, including budgeting, savings and credit.
EXISTING LAW requires:
1)The Superintendent of Public Instruction, with the approval of
the State Board of Education, to plan and develop a
one-semester consumer economics instructional program for use
in grades 7-12.
2)The program to include, among other topics, personal banking,
elementary contracts, using consumer guides, credit
management, insurance, and taxes.
3)The program to be made available to all school districts.
FISCAL EFFECT : None
COMMENTS : Many teenagers today spend far more than they save.
In fact, in 2003 they spent $175 billion dollars. More and more
teenagers are acquiring ATM and credit cards. By the time they
are freshmen in college, teenagers have an average of three
credit cards and have accumulated a debt burden of $3,000, not
including student loans. Only three out of 10 teenagers have
received any schooling on managing money and establishing good
credit. This bill encourages school districts to ensure that
students are provided with essential tools and knowledge to
manage their personal finances. The ability to make and manage
AB 1492
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money wisely is key to achieving most life dreams and goals.
The California Federation of Teachers expressed the opinion that
teachers are already engaged heavily in structuring curriculum
to meet state standards and testing requirements. Adding to
those requirements only makes the task more difficult.
This bill was passed by both houses in the 2003-2004 session as
AB 2435 (Wiggins). It was subsequently vetoed by the Governor
for the following reasons:
Allowing school districts to teach middle school and
high school students about the importance of properly
maintaining their personal finances is a worthy
objective. However, this bill is unnecessary because
school districts already have the authority to teach
'budgeting, savings, and credit,' under current law.
Although I am unable to support this legislation, I
agree with the importance of learning to spend wisely
and properly managing finances. Learning to balance a
checkbook, saving money for a rainy day, and
understanding the dangers of too much credit card debt
are all vital skills for kids to learn in order to
become responsible adults.
While teaching financial responsibility is important
for our children, I would welcome future legislation
that requires all members of the State Legislature to
complete a course in financial management and
responsibility. Requiring legislators to take a
refresher course on managing finances may be the
wisest investment the State could ever make.
California may never have found itself in the deep
fiscal crisis that it has had to endure, if such a
requirement were signed into law earlier.
One of the best lessons we can offer to our children,
is to practice sound financial principles, and I
believe the Legislature should begin teaching kids by
example.
Clearly, the Governor does not understand why schools can't
teach these topics, even though they are "permitted" to do so.
AB 1492
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The content standards, upon which the accountability system is
based, do not allow time to teach these "extras." Teachers must
teach the standards so that students will have a chance to score
well on the tests, and teachers frequently have to guess which
standards will be on the tests because there is not sufficient
time to cover all of the standards. Unless the material is in
statute, it will not be taught.
Analysis Prepared by : Dee Brennick / ED. / (916) 319-2087
FN: 0009949