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Statehouse News Bureau

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Ohio kids will be required to pass financial literacy to graduate

By Karen Kasler

Published October 8, 2021 at 4:52 PM EDT

[Monthira / Shutterstock] — Glasses on books, a calculator, coins and a jar of coins with a small graduation mortar board cap on top

There was rare, almost unanimous agreement among state lawmakers on a bill to require financial literacy classes for high school graduation. The bill now goes on to the governor, and it also includes another important item for schools.

The bill requires that starting with next year’s freshman class, all students have to have a half-credit of financial literacy to graduate from high school.

Sen. Steve Wilson (R-Maineville) is a sponsor of Senate Bill 1, a form of which has been proposed three times before - in 2015, in 2017 and last year.

“I came here to get this done. I was a banker for 45 years and I know how abysmal financial literacy is being taught in the state of Ohio.”

The bill also extends a law passed last year that allows school districts to set their own standards for substitute teachers, suspending a requirement of a four-year degree. That addition to the financial literacy bill was touted as a fix to the substitute teacher shortage that’s grown during the pandemic.