Pupil instruction: high school graduation requirements: personal finance.

(1) Existing law requires a pupil to complete designated coursework while in grades 9 to 12, inclusive, in order to receive a diploma of graduation from high school. These graduation requirements include, among others, the completion of 3 courses in social studies, including a one-semester course in economics. This bill would add the completion of a separate, stand-alone one-semester course in personal finance, that is prohibited from being combined with any other course, to the graduation requirements commencing with pupils graduating in the 2030–31 school year, including for pupils enrolled in a charter school. The bill would authorize, commencing with pupils graduating in the 2030–31 school year, including for pupils enrolled in a charter school, a pupil who completes a separate, stand-alone one-semester course in personal finance, that is not combined with any other course, to elect to be exempt from the graduation requirement to complete a one-semester course in economics. The bill would require local educational agencies, including charter schools, to offer in all of its high schools a separate, stand-alone one-semester course in personal finance, that is not combined with any other course, commencing with the 2027–28 school year, as provided. By imposing new duties on local educational agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law establishes the Instructional Quality Commission and requires the commission to, among other things, recommend curriculum frameworks to the State Board of Education and consider including, when revising the history-social science curriculum framework, age-appropriate information on financial literacy for kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, as provided. This bill would revise and recast the list of financial literacy topics for the commission to consider including when revising the history-social science framework, as applied to kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive. The bill would also require, on or before May 31, 2026, the state board to adopt a curriculum guide and resources for the above-described separate, stand-alone one-semester course in personal finance based on a curriculum guide and resources developed and recommended by the commission. The bill would require the curriculum guide and resources to include all of, and only, the financial literacy topics considered by the commission as part of the history-social science framework revision, and would also require the above-described separate, stand-alone one-semester course in personal finance to include all of, and only, those topics, as provided. The bill would appropriate $300,000 from the General Fund to the commission for purposes of developing, and recommending to the state board, the curriculum guide and resources. In the event that the state board has not adopted a curriculum guide and resources for this personal finance course by May 31, 2026, the bill would require local educational agencies, including charter schools, to locally develop the curriculum and resources to offer this personal finance course, as provided. By imposing new obligations on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing law requires the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, among other duties, to establish standards for the issuance and renewal of credentials, certificates, and permits. Existing law requires the commission to issue a single subject teaching credential only in specified subjects. Existing law authorizes the commission to grant an added or supplementary authorization to a credentialholder who has met the requirements and standards of the commission for the added or supplementary authorization. This bill would expressly authorize an individual holding a single subject teaching credential in Social Science, Business, Mathematics, or Home Economics to teach the above-described personal finance course, and would authorize the commission to additionally establish a supplementary authorization that authorizes individuals holding single subject teaching credentials in other subjects to teach the above-described personal finance course. (4) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. (5) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.