THE SENATE	S.R. NO.	40
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE RESOLUTION

requesting the department of education to EVALUATE AND STUDY THE POSSIBILITY OF IMPLEMENTING A FINANCIAL LITERACY CURRICULuM IN public middle and high SCHOOLS.

     WHEREAS, although a 2004 study by the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy found an increase in high school seniors scores on an exam about credit cards, retirement funds, insurance, and other personal finance basics, sixty-five per cent of all participating students still failed the exam; and

WHEREAS, only twenty-six per cent of individuals between the ages of thirteen and twenty-one reported that their parents actively taught them how to manage money; and

     WHEREAS, a 2004 survey of states by the National Council on Economic Education found that forty-nine states include the subject of economics in their elementary and secondary education standards, and thirty-eight states include standards on personal finance; and

     WHEREAS, although Hawaii requires that personal finance be included as part of its public school educational standards, it does not require that personal finance courses be offered or that students be tested on the subject; and

     WHEREAS, learning personal finance and money management skills in childhood may lead to better management of one's personal financial assets in adulthood; and

     WHEREAS, Americans paid more than $24,000,000,000 in credit card fees in 2004, an eighteen per cent increase over the previous year, with forty per cent of Americans indicating that they live beyond their financial means; and

     WHEREAS, the personal savings rate of Americans in 2005 was negative 0.5 per cent, marking the first time that the rate has been negative since the Great Depression in 1932 and 1933, which means that Americans spent all of their disposable income and dipped into past savings or increased their borrowing; and

     WHEREAS, young adults between twenty-five and thirty-four years of age have the second highest rate of bankruptcy, just after those between thirty-five and forty-four years of age; and

     WHEREAS, research indicates that as few as ten hours of personal financial education positively impacts students' spending and savings habits; and

     WHEREAS, it is of the utmost importance to educate Hawaii's youth in economic and financial matters to prepare them for financial independence through the development of fiscal responsibility and financial management skills in an increasingly complex national and global economy; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2007, that the Department of Education is requested to evaluate the possibility of implementing a mandatory financial literacy curriculum in public middle and high schools; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Education is requested to report its findings and recommendations to the Legislature not later than twenty days before the convening of the Regular Session of 2008; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Chairperson of the Board of Education and the Superintendent of Education.

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

DOE; Financial Literacy; Curriculum; Study