O F F I C E O F L E G I S L A T I V E R E S E A R C H
P U B L I C A C T S U M M A R Y
Page 1
PA 23-21—SB 1165
Education Committee
Appropriations Committee
AN ACT CONCERNING FI NANCIAL LITERACY INS TRUCTION
SUMMARY: This act adds a half-credit of personal financial management and
financial literacy to the high school graduation requirements beginning with the
graduating class of 2027 (i.e., students who completed eighth grade in the spring of
2023). It also adds personal financial management and financial literacy to the
state’s required program of instruction for public schools.
The act also makes completion of a one-credit, mastery-based diploma
assessment (i.e., a “capstone”) optional, rather than mandatory, for graduation at
each board of education’s discretion.
By law, a school board cannot grant a high school diploma unless the student
has completed at least 25 credits total. By making the completion of a one-credit
capstone a local option and allowing students to fulfill the half-credit financial
literacy requirement either as a humanities credit or as an elective credit, the act
reduces the state-prescribed credit requirements from 22 to 21 credits, which
increases the minimum potential credits available for electives to a range of three
to four. (The exact number of elective credits depends upon the (1) local decision
whether to require a capstone and (2) decision to count financial literacy towards
the nine-credit humanities requirement or as an elective.)
The act also makes technical and conforming changes.
EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2023, except a conforming change is effective July 1,
2025.
§§ 2 & 3 — PERSONAL FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT AND FINANCIAL
LITERACY
The act adds personal financial management and financial literacy to the state’s
required program of instruction for public schools. By law, the required program of
instruction includes, among other subjects, the arts; language arts, including
reading and writing; mathematics; physical education; science; and social studies,
including citizenship, geography, government, history, Holocaust and genocide
awareness, African-American and Black studies, and Puerto Rican and Latino
studies.
By law, the State Board of Education (SBE) must make available curriculum
and materials to help school boards develop their curriculum, including the required
program of instruction. Within available appropriations, SBE must also help and
encourage school boards to develop instructional programs for a range of topics,
including personal financial management as developed under a plan in a separate
existing law (see BACKGROUND). O L R P U B L IC A C T S U M M A R Y
Page 2 of 2
BACKGROUND
Financial Literacy Plan and Definition
Existing law allows the State Department of Education, the Board of Regents
for Higher Education, and the UConn Board of Trustees, in consultation with the
Banking Department, to develop a plan to give each high school student financial
literacy instruction (CGS § 10-16pp). The plan is not a requirement for school
districts but an option available to them.
Under this law, “financial literacy” includes banking, investing, savings,
handling personal finance matters, and the impact of using credit cards and debit
cards.