Financial Literacy as Course Requirement

Type: Article
Topics: College- Career- and Life-Readiness, Curriculum & Assessment, School Administrator Magazine

August 01, 2025

How a Maryland school district turned an unfunded mandate into multi-grade instruction on a lifelong personal need
A school administrator talking with a teenager during financial literacy class
Amy Rock is the instructional supervisor with the Career and Technical Education Department for Maryland’s Prince George’s County Public Schools. PHOTO BY NAOMI KAMARA

You may not want to admit it, but money rules. It may not buy or guarantee happiness, but it sure can ease your mind to have your fundamental needs met.

We must be honest about the role money plays in our lives and teach it to our children. Far from being a taboo subject, financial literacy needs to be a foundational layer of our educational system.

Before you roll your eyes at yet another subject schools are supposed to assume responsibility for, let’s talk about what financial literacy is, why it is needed and how our 132,000-student school system in suburban Washington, D.C., took an unfunded mandate and built a multi-grade approach to teaching financial literacy.

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