House Resolution 148 - Introduced
PAG LIN
1 1 HOUSE RESOLUTION NO.
1 2 BY JENKINS
1 3 A Resolution urging the Iowa department of education
1 4 to integrate the principles of basic personal finance
1 5 into the public school curricula in Iowa.
1 6 WHEREAS, basic personal financial management,
1 7 including the principles of saving, spending, credit,
1 8 investment, taxes, and insurance, is an essential life
1 9 skill necessary to the well=being of all Iowans; and
1 10 WHEREAS, an October 2002 white paper prepared by
1 11 the United States department of the treasury's office
1 12 of financial education titled Integrating Financial
1 13 Education into School Curricula (the "white paper")
1 14 states that the average American was able to answer
1 15 only 42 percent of the questions on a personal
1 16 financial quiz correctly, that four out of 10
1 17 Americans admitted that they are living beyond their
1 18 means because of their misuse and misunderstanding of
1 19 credit, and that personal bankruptcy filings more than
1 20 doubled between 1990 and 2000; and
1 21 WHEREAS, the 2004 fourth biennial survey of
1 22 financial literacy by the Jumpstart Coalition for
1 23 Personal Financial Literacy found 65.5 percent of high
1 24 school seniors with failing scores, representing an
1 25 increase from the 44.2 percent of high school seniors
1 26 with failing scores in 1998; and
1 27 WHEREAS, according to the department of treasury's
1 28 white paper, it is estimated that America's youth
1 29 spend approximately $150 billion annually; and
1 30 WHEREAS, like other complex and destabilizing
2 1 social phenomena confronting today's youth, personal
2 2 finance presents more difficult choices and pitfalls
2 3 than experienced by previous generations, yet public
2 4 education in this critical life skill has not
2 5 increased to meet the challenge; and
2 6 WHEREAS, a high school financial education course,
2 7 including an instructor's manual, student workbook,
2 8 and supplemental materials, has been developed by the
2 9 National Endowment for Financial Education and is
2 10 available at no cost to schools; and
2 11 WHEREAS, experience has shown that students will
2 12 respond to well=executed life skills programs that
2 13 have direct, practical application to their daily
2 14 lives; and
2 15 WHEREAS, the personal financial responsibility and
2 16 well=being of the emerging generation will be
2 17 essential to the overall health and well=being of
2 18 Iowa's future economic and social condition; and
2 19 WHEREAS, the general assembly recognizes that Iowa
2 20 law invests the Iowa department of education with the
2 21 primary responsibility for supervising public
2 22 education at the primary and secondary levels, which
2 23 responsibility includes the authority to adopt
2 24 accreditation standards for public schools; NOW
2 25 THEREFORE,
2 26 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
2 27 That the House of Representatives urges the Iowa
2 28 department of education, in cooperation with school
2 29 administrators, teachers, parents, business leaders,
2 30 concerned citizens, and business=oriented educational
3 1 programs such as Junior Achievement, to immediately
3 2 begin:
3 3 1. Exploring ways to include in the public school
3 4 curricula a financial literacy program that includes
3 5 such topics as budgeting, consumer economics,
3 6 insurance, investing principles, managing credit,
3 7 monetary policy, financial planning, retirement
3 8 savings, consumer loans, and mortgages; and
3 9 2. Reviewing existing financial literacy programs
3 10 and materials that are available, with the aim of
3 11 formalizing a personal financial management course;
3 12 and
3 13 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the department of
3 14 education is encouraged to submit a full report
3 15 concerning the inclusion of elements relating to
3 16 personal finance as part of the essential knowledge
3 17 and skills in the required public school curricula to
3 18 the general assembly by January 1, 2007.
3 19 LSB 6447HH 81
3 20 jr:nh/sh/8
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