A bill sponsored by state Senator Chris Gebhard to add basic money management skills as a half-credit requirement in the commonwealth’s high school curriculum, which languished in a House committee since it was passed by the Senate in May, is now likely to be enacted as part of an omnibus bill amending the Public School Code.
“Ultimately – we got it across the finish line and that is what really counts,” Gebhard said Dec. 16 in an email to LebTown. “I firmly believe this new half-credit course will make a huge difference in the lives of our graduating high school students.”
The bill will require students to complete a financial literacy course before graduation, according to a statement from Gebhard’s office, and will “prepare young adults to make smart decisions with their daily purchases and long-term financial planning.”
“An alarming number of our high school students are currently entering adulthood and the workforce without an appropriate knowledge of basic financial concepts,” Gebhard said in the release. “I want them to have the best foundation possible as they start their own lives – far too often, the financial decisions our younger generations are making have led to unintended consequences that have put them at an economic disadvantage later in life.”
Read More: Senator Gebhard pushes bill requiring financial literacy class in PA schools
According to Gebhard’s office, families in the United States are approaching approximately $1 trillion dollars in credit card debt and more than $15 trillion dollars in debt overall.
Gebhard (R-48) authored Senate Bill 647 last spring fronting a course of study including explanations of the true cost of credit, choosing and managing a credit card, borrowing money for an automobile or other large purchase, home mortgages, credit scoring and credit reports, planning and paying for postsecondary education, and planning for retirement.
“No offense to biology and calculus and classes like that, but we want to teach students topics and skills that they’ll use every day of their life,” Gebhard told LebTown in May. “These are skills they will use when they buy their groceries, when they’re buying a car, when they’re getting a mortgage or getting a credit card.”
According to Gebhard’s original memorandum, “the content of the course will be in line with the standards established by the second edition of the Voluntary National Content Standards in Economics and the 2013 National Standards for Financial Literacy, as developed by the Council for Economic Education.”
Although the bill passed the Senate with a 44-5 vote on May 9, it has sat ever since in the House Education Committee with no action, according to Gebhard’s Chief of Staff Matthew Urban.
However, Gebhard’s proposal — which he described as his office’s No. 1 priority earlier this year — gained new life piggybacked on Senate Bill 843, a measure fronted by Senator David Argall (R-Pottsville) to help alleviate the teacher shortage in Pennsylvania.
According to Urban, SB 843 passed the state Senate on Sept. 19, passed the House Education Committee on Nov. 13 and passed the full House with a technical amendment on Nov. 15. The bill was then sent back to the Senate to approve the House amendment, which it did on Dec. 13 — with an additional amendment inserting SB 647 into the bill. The revised SB 843 returned to the House and was approved with the financial literacy amendment attached later that day.
Previous conversations with the governor’s office “have confirmed this Omnibus School Code Bill … would be signed” by Governor Josh Shapiro, Urban said.
An omnibus bill, Urban explained “simply means it’s one bill dealing with multiple issues of the same subject. … These types of bills typically happen at the end of the legislative calendar when timing can get tricky to get vehicles out of committees.”
Urban said in his email to LebTown that it “is important to note that this is another great example of how difficult governance has been in Pennsylvania this past year. Many overwhelmingly bipartisan bills like this one … have got caught up in the House Democratic committees and seen little movement or action.”
Gebhard, in his prepared statement, said: “It was extremely frustrating to have put all this work into this legislation for two years and not even get a hearing from the House Education Committee.”
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