Senator: Mandate 'financial literacy'

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October 16, 2008

By Bethany Bray

The average monthly credit card debt for a college student is $2,000, says State Sen. Sue Tucker - a statistic she believes could be prevented if more high schoolers were educated about finance, debt and budgets.

Tucker plans on sponsoring a bill, to be filed in the January 2009 senate session, that would require financial literacy to be taught in Massachusetts schools.

Considering America's economic woes, offering a financial curriculum in schools couldn't come at better time, she said.

"It's now more important than ever. The level of savings in America is the lowest since the Great Depression. There is a great deal of work that needs to be done," said Tucker. "A huge percentage of our students are graduating with very little knowledge about finance. It's a cornerstone of life. Debt ruins lives, families and relationships. The financial chaos today shows that Americans need to learn more about their finances."

Tucker's office is still working on details of the bill, but eventually, she'd like to see a finance curriculum from kindergarten through high school, she said.

Teachers would cover the basics of real estate finance, insurance, mortgages, borrowing, debt management and the stock market, she said.

"Things like 'What does compound interest mean?' 'How savings can help?' Personal budgeting. The whole gamut," said Tucker. "It's so central to life, and is very timely."

Andover High School Principal Peter Anderson said teacher Paul Ragnio has taught a course titled personal finance at the school for several years. The class is an elective, not required to graduate, and teaches teens about responsible spending and credit card debt.

Ragnio couldn't be reached for comment for this story this week.

Tucker's finance bill in no way "dismisses the good work going on" in some schools or after-school programs with finance curriculum, she said. Her bill would make programs that are currently "hit or miss" uniform and even throughout the state, she said.

Nine states throughout the U.S. require curriculum and testing on finance in order to graduate, she said.

"The challenge is, in our already overburdened schools, how to weave this in. I've heard many ideas, and we're now researching how other states do it. It would have to be part of the (curriculum) framework," Tucker said.

While working out the specifics of her bill, Tucker has been meeting with both educational and finance professionals.

"Everyone in the financial world is in support of this bill. I haven't talked to any banker or economics professor that thinks this is a bad idea. The reality is that teachers are completely overburdened with stuff they have to get through for MCAS. The challenge is figuring out how to get this into curriculum," Tucker said.

She is setting up meetings with Paul Reville, the new secretary of education, and Mitchell Chester, commissioner of elementary and secondary education, to discuss this, Tucker said.

"One idea is to have a board in the department of education, a group very schooled in personal finance, that could drive this and create curriculum. Funding is also a problem. If we just mandated this, we'd have to pay for all the professional development, every textbook," Tucker said.

Tucker believes it's possible banks and financial companies may be interested in paying for the program because, "they see the fallout from lack of knowledge."

Tucker, a Democrat, represents Lawrence and Andover, and also Dracut and Tewksbury.