Georgia recently joined seven other states in passing legislation that requires a stand-alone financial literacy course as a high school graduation prerequisite, according to Stateline, an initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts. On April 28, Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law a financial literacy provision that will call for all students in either 11th or 12th grade to take a half-credit course in financial topics such as budgeting and credit management. 

In the past few years, Nebraska, Ohio, Rhode Island and, recently, Florida, have passed laws making financial literacy a requirement in high schools in the next year or two, Stateline reported. In North Carolina, graduation requirements take effect in 2023. 

Five additional states have enacted similar laws that will take effect in about the same time frame as Georgia's, which will take effect in the 2024-2025 school year. About 25 states require at least some financial training, but that is sometimes as part of an existing course rather than a stand-alone course. 

According to CNBC,  a Michigan bill that would require a half-credit personal finance course for high school graduation passed the state House of Representatives in December and is expected to be taken up by the state Senate this month.. 

In Minnesota, an omnibus education bill would require high school freshman, starting in the 2023-24 school year, to take at least a half-credit personal finance course to graduate. And, in New Hampshire, an education bill includes personal finance on a list of things that constitute an adequate education. 

The COVID-19 pandemic jumpstarted the momentum among states in enacting such legislation when it revealed that many people are in financial jeopardy because of job losses and the overall low savings rate nationwide. 

CNBC reported that financial literacy is considered one of the common-sense issues that both political parties agree on.

According to the Nation’s Report Card on Financial Literacy, a website published by the American Public Education Foundation, while New York state requires a high school course with financial literacy standards, it does not yet require a high school stand-alone personal finance course and has not yet implemented grade-specific K-8 financial literacy standards. More specifically, the site found that New York “requires a one-half credit economics course for high school graduation. The recommended course for this requirement, Grade 12: Economics, the Enterprise System, and Finance, has four main standards, and half of the sub-standards under ‘Individual Responsibility and the Economy’ are personal finance concepts. Therefore, each New York student receives some financial literacy instruction through the required high school economics course.” But the site gave the state a “D” in financial literacy instruction, “as it does not provide substantial K-12 instruction.”