The Vermont House is considering legislation (H.228) that would “require students in Vermont public schools to complete a course on personal finance as a condition of being awarded a high school diploma.” Does that sound odd to anyone other than me?
It requires the state board of education to develop guidelines for a financial literacy curriculum as a prerequisite to graduation. If that’s such a good idea, and I’m not saying it is not, shouldn’t Vermont Voters expect their legislators to pass such a class before being allowed into elective office?
Here is a list of the things they suggest be included.
Standards. The Board of Education shall adopt and continually update standards for student performance in the content area of financial literacy, which shall include the following personal finance concepts:
(A) behavioral economics;
(B) banking and bill payment;
(C) investing;
(D) types of credit;
(E) managing credit, including credit scores;
(F) paying for college;
(G) insurance;
(H) taxes;
(I) budgeting;
(J) consumer skills;
(K) retirement planning, including tax-advantaged retirement plans;
(L) home ownership and financing; and
(M) personal transportation, including car ownership and leasing.
Even as casual side-eye-ers of Vermont’s decline toward progressive “paradise,” who among us agrees that our “legislative” neighbors to the Left could benefit from even the most basic understanding of (even just a few of) the itemized topics?
Not sure? I’m here to help. We’ve been following the decline and writing about it more recently and are happy to provide some resources.
- Vermont Spends Hundreds of Millions – The Problem Got Worse
- Vermont Considers New Ways to Make New Hampshire Even More Desirable
- Why Yes, a 10% Hospitality Tax on Tourists Skiing in Vermont Would Be Great for New Hampshire!
- Just in Time to Make Things Cost More…Vermont Hikes Minimum Wage.
- NH v. VT – A Tale of Two Political Cultures One Red and One Blue
- New Hampshire, Vermont, Tax Revenue, Tax Capacity, and Values
I should add that requiring Democrats to take Financial Literacy courses might look a lot like a scared straight program. And while some would call it harassment or perhaps even hate speech, what really matters is how they can even imagine they are capable – assuming they pass it and it becomes law – of intelligent oversight.
