Reps. Krishnamoorthi, Cartwright Introduce Bill to Help Teach Kids Financial Management Skills

March 4, 2021

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representatives Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL-08) and Matt Cartwright (D-PA-08) introduced a bill to prepare today's students for financial success in adulthood. The Youth Financial Learning Act would create a competitive grant program to support school-based financial literacy programs for students, specifically ones focused on personal credit and student loan management.

"As we prepare young people for their careers, we also need to help prepare them to make sound financial decisions as they learn how to pay bills on time, navigate loan obligations, establish good credit, build savings, and prepare for retirement. I'm proud to cosponsor the Youth Financial Learning Act because it would meet this need by creating a grant for school districts to implement, expand, and sustain financial literacy curricula in order to enhance student understanding of personal and consumer finance," said Rep. Krishnamoorthi.

"Many students are faced with important financial decisions soon after they turn 18 but equipping them with money management skills is often overlooked," said Rep. Cartwright. "We should empower them to be financially literate and give them the confidence to make smart money decisions throughout their lifetimes."

Today, only 21 states require high school students to take a course on personal finance, and only five require a standardized test on personal finance concepts.

Specifically, the Youth Financial Learning Act would:

Create competitive grants to help states implement, expand or sustain school-based financial literacy programs for elementary and secondary school students;
Allow for significant flexibility, creativity and innovation in the integration of financial literacy and entrepreneurship education into existing curricula;
Promote appropriate professional development to embed financial literacy, personal finance and entrepreneurship concepts into a well-rounded education in elementary schools and secondary schools;
Help local educational agencies promote partnerships with community-based organizations to provide financial literacy programming.

Additional cosponsors of this bill are U.S. Reps. Jim Langevin (D-RI-02), Carolyn Maloney (D-NY-12), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX-18), Julia Brownley (D-CA-26), Tim Ryan (D-OH-13), Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA-06), Dwight Evans (D-PA-03), Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX-15), Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA-05). Madeleine Dean (D-PA-04) and Brendan Boyle (D-PA-02).

Read the full text of the bill HERE.