The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

March 18, 2010

UPDATE: Dollar sense is goal of proposal

Longietti: Teach financial literacy

By Courtney L. Anderson

SHENANGO VALLEY — A bill sponsored by a local legislator would require the state to compile resources for schools to use to teach kids about money management.

State Rep. Mark Longietti, Farrell, D-7th District, said he has felt passionate about youth learning about such issues since before he was elected.

“I think it is one of the critical issues of our time to make sure that young people understand the importance of saving, investing, budgeting and handling their personal financial affairs as well as understanding how the economy works,” he said.

House Bill 101 would create the Economic Education and Personal Financial Literacy Program, requiring the Pennsylvania Department of Education to “develop and maintain a clearinghouse of personal finance and economic literacy education resources, and to provide it to teachers, schools and organizations across the state,” a news release said.

The materials, culled from varied sources, would be incorporated into concepts taught in classes like economics, family and consumer science and career education.

The bill is not a mandate and does not require that schools teach the information; it requires the state to develop and provide the curriculum. The department would also recognize those schools doing an exemplary job, under the bill, which he called “a first step.”

Longietti said that many people struggle to make ends meet and it’s important for students to have strategies to deal with that. He said the problem cuts across all socioeconomic lines and is particularly crucial in the wake of the recent economic crisis.

“Young people are seeing what their parents are going through and think ‘I don’t want that to happen to me,’ ” he said.

David DeForest, president of Sharpsville school board, said he’s not sure how much students are taught about finances in schools today but the issue has been brought up in conversations by his board.

DeForest said he has heard members of the community comment that some kids can’t make change. Whether he’d support the program would likely depend on “whether we’re teaching things because we’re trying to be a nanny or teaching them about the system and let them make their own minds up.”

He said it’s not a criticism of the bill, but he feels bad it’s gotten to the point that this sort of thing has to be compelled by the legislature.

However, “I can’t imagine that anything that a child learns is ever a bad thing,” DeForest said.

Lessons might include examples like what happens if you buy a $150 iPod using a credit card with a 19 percent interest rate, Longietti suggested. Kids would learn how to figure out that if they just make the minimum payment on the item it would take two years and cost $600, he said.

“I’m just concerned that 20 years from now we may have a group of people retiring who are totally unprepared for their economic future and how that’s going to impact the country as a whole,” Longietti said.

The bill now goes to the Senate and if it passes this year, Longietti said he thinks the materials would be available as early as next school year.

The legislation would not require any funding from the General Assembly and the state education department could accept funding from individuals, public and private corporations, and state and federal grants and appropriations for the program.

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