Financial education legislation

A hallmark of Treasurer Perdue’s administration has been financial education, from his Bank at School programs in state elementary schools to the well- received series of Women and Money conferences.

Legislation last session making it officially permissible for his office to conduct financial education in public schools was a good first step. However, the treasurer would like to see the measure go a step further, with mandated money courses throughout a child's education.

Simply put, our children must enter adulthood with basic, necessary skills for managing money. Certainly, a student can learn to manage money on his or her own, but some formal instruction would help. Money management is a systematic process, just as mathematics or English is.

Statistics show that many college students graduate with little knowledge as to how to manage their finances or stay out of the trap of debt. Treasurer Perdue wants to investigate an arrangement by which public and private sector professionals come together to support financial literacy in schools.

“Young people stand little chance of managing their money if they never receive any instruction in the process,” the treasurer said.