As the House stalls the fight over funding, two lawmakers are pushing for better financial education

WASHINGTON (TNND) — Congress left town last month after using a stopgap resolution to once again postpone major legislative debate on federal spending until December. While fiscal conservatives railed against “out-of-control” spending, other House members weren't exactly surprised, as they believed the U.S. was suffering from a financial crisis on a grand scale: namely, the lack of universal education in financial literacy at the top school level .

Reps. Wiley Nickel, D-N.C., and David Valadao, R-Calif., introduced the Promoting Financial Literacy in Secondary Schools Act and the Young Americans Financial Literacy Act in April of this year to create a bipartisan push for To create federal school guidelines – through the Department of Finance – for teaching financial literacy in secondary schools and grant programs to provide schools and districts with the means to put these guidelines into practice.

Across the country, we struggle with children not having a good grasp of simple things like balancing a checkbook,” Valadao told The National News Desk during a “Connect To Congress” interview in May.

“There is a commission in the Ministry of Finance – Financial Literacy [and Education] Commission – and their job is to make sure there are policies in place, but right now the only focus is on higher education institutions.”

Both congressmen are members of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus — a group that actively tries to work on legislation across parties — and Nickel felt this was a good opportunity to showcase the type of educational models being used in his state on the issue be practiced. Tarheel State requires all high school students to complete a comprehensive credit course on business and personal finance, which covers credit cards and reports, borrowing money and leveraging debt such as mortgages.

“To me, this is a big problem for North Carolina. “We are one of the leading states in the country in requiring financial literacy courses in high schools,” Nickel told The National Desk.

The success we've had in North Carolina sets a good example for the rest of the country, and that's a big part of what this bill would do.

The two bills work hand-in-hand, with the Promoting Financial Literacy in Secondary Schools Act aimed at changing current laws governing the scope of the Financial Literacy Commission, while the Young Americans Act would direct the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to establish grant programs Schools must raise funds to enable the implementation of the curriculum proposed by the Ministry of Finance.

“Grant programs that help states implement these programs are a great use of federal funds, but the approach of Rep. Valadao and my office was, 'It's good to get started.' We don't have that [a] “The current curriculum for high school students. “So that’s the easiest, lowest-hanging fruit in this conversation,” Nickel explained.

Nickel and Valadao's push comes amid a major push by all state governments to improve financial literacy education in high schools across the United States. Half of the states in the union require some form of financial literacy training—as of this writing—up from just eight at the start of the decade. The Financial Literacy and Education Commission published a policy report in 2020 detailing its findings on the significant gaps in student financial literacy and suggestions for improvement.

In a 2018 study, only a third of adults could answer at least four out of five financial literacy questions on basic concepts such as mortgages, interest rates, inflation and risk,” the commission wrote in its report. “Similarly, a 2018 assessment of 15-year-old students found that 16% did not have a sufficient level of financial literacy, 22% had a basic level of financial literacy, and 12% successfully demonstrated the highest assessed level of financial literacy put.

During the same period, groups such as Next Gen Personal Finance and the Center for Financial Literacy (CFL) at Champlain College have formed to advocate for such educational needs and track new and existing programs across the country. Specifically, the CFL maintains a statewide map and report that tracks and evaluates the strength of financial education in each of the 50 states, ranking them on a traditional reporting spectrum of “A” to “F.” Only seven states – Alabama, Iowa, Missouri, Mississippi, Tennessee, Utah and Virginia – received an “A” grade from the FCL in its 2023 report. However, 22 states received a grade of “B,” giving more than half of the states high marks.

While reports show that the costs of this lack of financial literacy education are having a monetary cost to several Americans, Nickel argues that the danger posed by this deficit is best illustrated in the ongoing student debt crisis and the disputes in the federal government over the Student loan relief reflects.

The student loan debt crisis is a big part of that and one of the specific goals of our bill is to ensure that high school students understand how post-secondary education debt works,” Nickel said.

“Students take on a lot of debt after college, and that remains across the board: They're talking about credit card debt and other debt that it would be beneficial for them to understand and what options they have to build generational wealth .”

While Congress is expected to be busy with “district work” through Election Day – even as President Joe Biden considers again asking lawmakers to pass emergency funding to support recovery efforts after Hurricane Helene – Nickel and Valadao are confident their bills will pass The expiry of the term of office can be passed.

“A lot of the work of Congress is about creating momentum for bigger things,” Nickel said. “This is one of the steps we need to take to get more federal funding and more federal money focused on financial literacy.”