Financial literacy given a boost

It’s just one example of how public schools across Kansas are trying to boost their students’ understanding of how to manage money following the passage of a 2003 law.

That measure required the incorporation of what’s called “financial literacy” into everyday subjects such as mathematics or social studies.

But some state education officials wonder whether more needs to be done, a concern being underscored by the nation’s worsening economic footing and the escalating financial burdens young people will face in adulthood.

On Tuesday, the state Board of Education is scheduled to discuss the final results of a statewide survey designed to evaluate how effective efforts at teaching spending savvy have been.

Board Vice Chairwoman Carol Rupe of Wichita said the poll’s initial results showed that many educators don’t feel prepared to adequately teach such information without having taken a course in the subject.

“Here’s what happened with this law — the problem is that nobody owns it,” Rupe said of the 2003 statute. “Everybody thinks that somebody else is doing it.”

Still, integrating financial literacy into everyday classroom teaching exercises seems to be working in many classrooms quite well, some educators say.

Tim Olsen, a teacher at Salina’s Grace E. Stewart Elementary, said students in several classes, including his group of about 20 students, have used computers to map out itineraries and estimate costs for sending a teddy bear on trips. The trips are virtual but the teddy bear is an actual stuffed animal being carted around the country.

So far, the bear has traveled everywhere from the most recent Super Bowl in Phoenix to the town of Kiowa in south-central Kansas.

“It’s a great hands-on opportunity because somewhere along the line they’re going to be booking a hotel room,” Olsen said of his students.

Jan Strecker, assistant superintendent for student learning in the Hutchinson public schools, said students in her district start learning financial literacy as early as kindergarten.

That’s when teachers can help students understand the abstract concept of money by discussing why a dime is worth more than a penny, even though a penny is actually bigger in physical size, Strecker said.

Strecker said she believes such efforts, integrated into the curriculum, are likely more effective than requiring students to take a standalone class on personal finance during their high school years.

“I would say that because they’re starting at a very young age, they start building those concepts early on,” Strecker said. “I think if you wait until high school, you’ve probably waited too long for some kids.”

State officials are taking a renewed interest in bolstering financial literacy at the same time that the topic is also receiving more attention nationally.

In fact, Board of Regents member Jill Docking of Wichita — like Rupe, another longtime booster of personal finance teaching in Kansas — testified before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee about the subject last month.

Docking said that some federal officials see the nation’s sub-prime mortgage crisis, which has helped catapult the nation into leaner economic times, as fallout from poor financial literacy in the county.

Million of consumers with less than stellar credit took on home mortgage loans that ultimately had unaffordable terms, prompting defaults and foreclosures. She said some officials believe that better educated consumers might not have fallen into the same traps.

Docking said she’s not convinced more financial knowledge would have prevented the so-called “housing bubble” from bursting. But she said she still believes that education about managing money needs to be upgraded.

Over their lifetimes, today’s youngsters will face the prospect of having to save significant amounts of money for retirement and pay off large loans for their college educations, in addition to managing credit cards and other debts.

Unlike her baby boom generation, young people probably won’t be able to count on Social Security checks or company pensions as the main source of their retirement income. Nor will government-spending likely cover the bulk of most people’s higher education costs.

Docking said she believes that over the years the U.S. has shifted to a lower-tax system that puts more responsibility on individuals, rather than the government, to provide for their financial futures.