WHEREAS, The Legislature passed Assembly Bill 2546 (2016), which helps make financial literacy in the classroom a reality for California’s schoolage children; and

WHEREAS, The State Department of Education acknowledges that young people need to be equipped with the skills and knowledge that allow them to be savvy consumers and competent managers of their own finances; and

WHEREAS, A lack of financial capability has real consequences for individuals, including lower savings rates, poor credit, and less wealth overall; and

WHEREAS, A survey of individuals 15 years of age in the United States, conducted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, found that 18 percent of respondents did not learn fundamental financial skills that are often applied in everyday situations, such as building a simple budget, comparison shopping, and understanding an invoice; and

WHEREAS, According to an Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development study, more than one in six students in the United States do not reach the baseline level of proficiency in financial literacy; and

WHEREAS, An EVERFI survey of over 100,000 incoming college students found that 92 percent of students felt “they needed more education, information, and/or support to be able to pay off their college loan.”; and

WHEREAS, According to Experian, 49 percent of Generation Z consumers surveyed said that they found financial topics to be somewhat interesting or interesting and 11 percent of them even said they loved learning about them; and

WHEREAS, The International Review of Economics Education published a paper titled “The Features and Effectiveness of the Keys to Financial Success Curriculum”, which found one-semester financial literacy programs taught by trained teachers were found to increase high school students’ financial knowledge by 61 percent, and was most effective in improving knowledge in the areas that the students were most deficient; and

WHEREAS, A study from Montana State University found that high school financial education leads to better financial aid decisions once these students reach college, increases subsidized borrowing at advantageous federal rates, and decreases use of more costly forms of borrowing, including credit cards and private loans; and

WHEREAS, Financial literacy rates directly affect the financial health of individuals, families, communities, and the country; and

WHEREAS, Resolutions similar to this resolution have been introduced and passed with strong bipartisan support to increase awareness of the need for financial capability for California citizens; now, therefore, be it