Massachusetts 2023-2024 Regular Session

Massachusetts Senate Bill S2665 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2665
2	2	The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
3	3	_______________
4	4	In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court
5	5	(2023-2024)
6	6	_______________
7	7	SENATE, April 1, 2024.
8	8	The committee on Education, to whom was referred the petitions (accompanied by bill,
9	9	Senate, No. 327) of Patrick M. O'Connor and Deborah B. Goldberg, Treasurer and Receiver
10	10	General for legislation to require financial education in schools; (accompanied by bill, Senate,
11	11	No. 328) of Patrick M. O'Connor and Ryan C. Fattman for legislation relative to student
12	12	financial literacy; (accompanied by bill, House, No. 473) of Peter J. Durant and others relative to
13	13	establishing a personal financial literacy curriculum in schools; and (subject to Joint Rule 12) of
14	14	Ryan M. Hamilton, Carmine Lawrence Gentile and Sally P. Kerans relative to personal financial
15	15	literacy in schools, report the accompanying bill (Senate, No. 2665).
16	16	For the committee,
17	17	Jason M. Lewis 1 of 4
18	18	FILED ON: 2/7/2024
19	19	SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2665
20	20	The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
21	21	_______________
22	22	In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court
23	23	(2023-2024)
24	24	_______________
25	25	An Act relative to student financial literacy.
26	26	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority
27	27	of the same, as follows:
28	28	1 SECTION 1. Chapter 29 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after
29	29	2section 2AAAAAA the following section:-
30	30	3 Section 2BBBBBB. (a) There shall be established and set up on the books of the
31	31	4commonwealth a separate fund to be known as the Financial Literacy Trust Fund. The fund shall
32	32	5be administered by the commissioner of elementary and secondary education. The fund shall be
33	33	6credited with: (i) revenue from appropriations or other money authorized by the general court
34	34	7and specifically designated to be credited to the fund; (ii) interest earned on such revenues; and
35	35	8(iii) funds from public and private sources such as gifts, grants and donations to further financial
36	36	9education and professional development; and (iii) for the collaboration with institutions of higher
37	37	10education and other stakeholder organizations. Amounts credited to the fund shall not be subject
38	38	11to further appropriation and any money remaining in the fund at the end of a fiscal year shall not
39	39	12revert to the General Fund. 2 of 4
40	40	13 (b) Amounts credited to the fund may be expended without further appropriation by the
41	41	14commissioner, for purposes related to the instruction of middle and high school students on
42	42	15financial literacy, including, but not limited to: (i) development of curricular materials for the
43	43	16financial literacy framework; (ii) professional development training, including the provision of
44	44	17training, seminars, conferences, and materials, for educators to use in the teaching of financial
45	45	18literacy. In expending amounts credited to the fund, the commissioner shall prioritize: (i)
46	46	19underserved communities across the commonwealth, including those public schools or school
47	47	20districts with high concentrations of economically-disadvantaged students; and (ii) schools
48	48	21implementing a financial literacy education program for the first time consistent with the
49	49	22standards set by the department of elementary and secondary education.
50	50	23 (c) Amounts received from private sources shall be approved by the commissioner of
51	51	24elementary and secondary education and subject to review before being deposited in the fund to
52	52	25ensure that pledged funds are not accompanied by conditions, explicit or implicit, on the
53	53	26implementation of financial literacy education programming that may be detrimental to the
54	54	27neutral and rigorous teaching of financial literacy or that may unduly influence the direction of
55	55	28financial literacy education policy. The review shall be made publicly available on the
56	56	29department's website.
57	57	30 (d) Annually, not later than October 1, the commissioner shall report to the clerks of the
58	58	31house of representatives and senate, the joint committee on education and the house and senate
59	59	32committees on ways and means on the fund's activity. The report shall include, but not be limited
60	60	33to: (i) the source and amount of funds received; (ii) the amounts distributed and the purpose of
61	61	34expenditures from the fund, including but not limited to, funds expended to assist school districts
62	62	35in implementing financial literacy (iii) any grants provided to institutions of higher education and 3 of 4
63	63	36other stakeholder organizations; (iv) anticipated revenue and expenditure projections for the next
64	64	37year; (v) the number of schools and school districts that have used the fund to implement a new
65	65	38program or enhance or maintain current programming; and (vi) the number of schools and school
66	66	39districts that applied for, but were not granted, funding. The report shall be publicly available on
67	67	40the department's website.
68	68	41 SECTION 2. Section 1R of chapter 69 of the General Laws, sa appearing in the 2022
69	69	42Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out subsection (a) and inserting in place thereof
70	70	43the following subsection:-
71	71	44 (a) Financial literacy standards established pursuant to section 1D shall promote an
72	72	45understanding of personal finances including, but not limited to: (i) loans; (ii) interest and
73	73	46interest accrual; (iii) using credit and making investments, risks of various financial instruments
74	74	47and basic diversification of assets; (iv) online commerce; (v) rights and responsibilities of renting
75	75	48or buying a home or making other large purchases or investments; (vi) saving, investing and
76	76	49planning for retirement; (vii) the role of banking and financial services; (viii) balancing ledgers
77	77	50and checkbooks; (ix) state and federal taxes; (x) charitable giving; (xi) evaluating media content,
78	78	51including online content, that relates to personal finance matters; (xii) saving, investing and
79	79	52planning for higher education or professional training (xiii) earning and spending income,
80	80	53methods of payment, consumer protection, and budgeting; (xiv) protecting and insuring assets,
81	81	54preventing identity theft and avoiding online scams; and (xv) emerging technologies in the
82	82	55financial industry, a basic understanding of cryptocurrencies, online commerce and computer
83	83	56stock-trading, how to evaluate digital media content relating personal finance matters and how to
84	84	57recognize risk. 4 of 4
85	85	58 SECTION 3. Said section 1R of said chapter 69 of said general laws is hereby further
86	86	59amended by striking out subsection (d) and inserting in place thereof the following subsection:-
87	87	60 (d) The department shall utilize funding from the Financial Literacy Trust Fund and may
88	88	61apply for federal, state or other funding, including funding available through the Economic
89	89	62Empowerment Trust Fund established pursuant to section 35QQ of chapter 10 to implement the
90	90	63provisions of this section.