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WHEREAS, forty per cent of Americans indicate 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, Americans paid more than $24,000,000,000 in credit card fees in 2004, an eighteen per cent increase over the previous year; and

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

WHEREAS, a 2004 study by the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy found that although high school seniors scored higher than their previous class 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 examination; 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, personal financial education is essential to ensure that our youth are prepared to manage money, credit, and debt or to become responsible workers, heads of households, investors, entrepreneurs, business leaders, and citizens; and

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

WHEREAS, under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, states are required to set accountability standards for elementary and secondary schools to demonstrate proficiency and progress; and

WHEREAS, accordingly, Hawaii has implemented the Hawaii State Assessment tests, which are administered to students in grades three, four, five, six, seven, eight, and ten each year, the results of which are used to determine Adequate Yearly Progress as mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001; and

WHEREAS, the inclusion of questions in the Hawaii State Assessment tests to assess and ensure that students possess a mastery of financial literacy concepts would be an appropriate method for ensuring financial literacy is taught at the elementary and secondary educational levels; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2008, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Board of Education is requested to include in the Hawaii State Assessment tests questions requiring a student's demonstration of knowledge and the mastery of financial literacy concepts appropriate for each grade level tested; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that each public school should be allowed to incorporate financial literacy education into its curriculum as each school deems appropriate, whether that be through increased grade advancement or graduation requirements or through the incorporation of financial literacy concepts into the study of other established subject areas already part of the current curriculum; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Board of Education submit a report of its plans for or integration of financial literacy questions into the Hawaii State Assessment tests to the Legislature at least twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2009; and

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

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

BOE; Financial Literacy; HSA Tests

THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	19
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008
STATE OF HAWAII