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Florida bill requires money management class before high school graduation

State lawmakers will consider a bill requiring students to take a class in personal finances.
Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida could become the next state in the nation to require high school students to take a course in learning about credit scores and other financial literacy topics.

Titled the "Dorothy L. Hukill Financial Literacy Act," the proposed bill would require a one-half credit of instruction in money management for students to graduate. If enacted, Florida would be the sixth state in the U.S. requiring such a standalone class.

Introduced by State Sen. Travis Hutson, R-Palm Coast, the bill says the state Legislature "finds that, in light of economic challenges nationwide, sound financial management skills are vitally important to all Floridians." 

The course would emphasize balancing a checkbook, budgeting, correcting an incorrect bill, paying taxes, loans and using credit cards.

If passed and signed into law, classes would begin for students entering ninth grade during the 2019-20 school year.

RELATED: Bill would require high schoolers to pass a personal finance test to graduate

Vermont-based Champlain College gave Florida a "B" grade in its 2017 report card on state efforts to improve financial literacy in high schools. Florida already specifies a half-year course in economics, with concepts in personal finance.

The state would be given an "A" score should a bill requiring all students to take a course in personal finance became law.

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