LANCASTER – Auditor General Timothy L. DeFoor today joined officials from Eastern Lancaster County School District and state representatives to highlight how financial literacy can be integrated into educational curriculum for all Pennsylvania students.
“Eastern Lancaster County School District is showing schools across the Commonwealth how to successfully incorporate financial education into their curriculum, so students are prepared for life after high school,” DeFoor said. “One of the keys to Pennsylvania’s future success is for all of us to know where our money is going, and how it’s being spent and invested. If that means we need laws and regulations to require schools to teach our kids financial education, then we need to write the laws and get them passed now.”
Students are required to take two half-credit courses in ninth and 10th grade to prepare them for their future careers and entry-level employment. The curriculum includes job search skills, the application process, entrepreneurship and banking concepts among other financial literacy concepts.
Eastern Lancaster County School District offers three other elective classes related to personal finance: Personal Finance; Business Law and Finance, which teaches about money management, investing, loans and credit cards, insurance, budgeting, etc.; and Consumer Economics: Life Hacks, which teaches sewing and mending, ironing, using tools for everyday tasks, basic cooking, budgeting, shopping on a budget, comparing prices of consumer goods and services, self-care, identity theft, and etiquette.
DeFoor has spent the last two years promoting financial literacy across the state as part of his Be Money Smart initiative. Since initiative launched in 2021, DeFoor has:
- Visited all state and state related universities in Pennsylvania to talk about job and internship opportunities within the department and the importance of knowing how your money works;
- Met with students participating in the State YMCA of Pennsylvania Youth and Government program and visited several YMCAs across the state to talk about financial literacy;
- Worked with Junior Achievement to emphasize financial literacy messages to elementary school students;
- Partnered with local financial institutions to provide financial literacy resources to the public; and
- Partnered with Harrisburg University of Science and Technology and Members 1st to coordinate a statewide financial literacy competition for high school students in Pennsylvania.
According to the American Public Education Foundation’s Nation’s Report Card on Financial Literacy, Pennsylvania’s current financial literacy grade is a “C”. Thirty-two other states received a grade of “C” or lower. The Foundation states that if Pennsylvania requires a stand-alone personal finance course for high school graduation and adopts grade specific K-12 academic standards, its grade will rise to an “A”.
For more information on the Department of the Auditor General’s financial literacy efforts, visit www.PaAuditor.gov/BeMoneySmart
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