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