SCR 195

THE SENATE
S.C.R. NO.
195
THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2026
H.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII
SENATE CONCURRENT
RESOLUTION
Requesting the Board of education, in collaboration with
the department of education, to revise public high school graduation
requirements to include successful completion of a standalone financial
literacy course.
���� WHEREAS, in
2025, the Hawaii State Senate adopted Senate Resolution No. 44, requesting the
Department of Education (Department) to develop and implement a statewide
financial literacy curricula plan for public high school students; and
���� WHEREAS, the
Department responded to the senate resolution by announcing that, beginning
with the incoming freshmen in the Class of 2030, all students in state public
schools must successfully complete a financial literacy educational opportunity
before graduation and document completion through their Personal Transition
Plan (PTP); and
���� WHEREAS, to
enable students to meet this requirement, the Department is allowing public
schools to take a variety of instructional approaches, including self-paced
learning options, integration into existing courses, and other instructional
designs that align with the Department's financial literacy program standards;
and
���� WHEREAS, the
Board of Education, however, did not hold a formal vote to approve the new
requirement or consider alternative options for students to gain a high-quality
financial literacy education; and
���� WHEREAS, a
2024 Financial Literacy Task Force (Task Force) report prepared and submitted
by the Department to the Board of Education considered various methods to
incorporate financial literacy education into the public school curriculum,
including but not limited to making financial literacy a standalone graduation
requirement and incorporating financial literacy into the required PTP; and
���� WHEREAS, Task
Force members expressed concerns that incorporating financial literacy into the
PTP may be too late for impactful education and largely believed that a
standalone course with dedicated instruction, support, feedback, and
accountability is the preferable pathway to ensure all students possess the
financial skills required for post-secondary success; and
���� WHEREAS, as
of November 2025, thirty states guarantee a standalone personal finance course
for all public high school students, including California, which in 2024
enacted a law mandating that a semester-long personal finance course be offered
to all high school students in the state by the 2027-2028 school year; and
���� WHEREAS, this
widespread implementation has been spurred by studies finding that financial
literacy education effectively improves financial behaviors related to
budgeting, saving, credit, and insurance; and
���� WHEREAS,
respondents in a fall 2025 HawaiiKidsCAN community survey expressed
overwhelming agreement that financial literacy is a vital life skill,
regardless of a student's postsecondary plans, making it critical for all
students to receive financial literacy education; and
���� WHEREAS,
HawaiiKidsCAN further found that ninety percent of industry, financial
services, and community members advocate for a half- or full-credit financial
literacy course in the State's public education curriculum; and
���� WHEREAS, a
rigorous, stand-alone financial literacy graduation requirement would best
serve the State's students by prioritizing applied, real-world financial skills
and preventing financial literacy instructions from being lost when combined
with other topics; and
���� WHEREAS, an
annual nationwide Personal Finance Index study conducted in 2025 found that
financial literacy has declined across generations, with Generation Z
exhibiting the lowest levels of financial literacy of any generation studied,
averaging only thirty-eight percent correct answers on the Index compared to an
average score of fifty-five percent among baby boomers; and
���� WHEREAS,
individuals with a very low level of financial literacy are three times as
likely to be debt constrained and more than four times as likely to lack
emergency savings sufficient to cover one month of living expenses compared to
those with a very high level of financial literacy; and
���� WHEREAS,
these findings exhibit the negative long-term individual and societal impacts
of low financial literacy and underscore the importance of establishing a
generationally tailored financial literacy education for young residents; now,
therefore,
���� BE IT
RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii,
Regular Session of 2026, the House of Representatives concurring, that the
Board of Education, in collaboration with the Department of Education, is
requested to revise public high school graduation requirements to include
successful completion of a standalone financial literacy course, to be
implemented beginning with the 2026-2027 school year; and
���� BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED that the Board of Education's plan to include successful completion of
a standalone financial literacy course as a public high school graduation
requirement is requested to include:
���� (1)� Pathways for teachers to obtain professional
development credits by completing financial literacy training;
���� (2)� Identification of funding sources to support
the implementation of a standalone financial literacy course;
���� (3)� Tracking of student course completion as a
measure of success; and
���� (4)� A curriculum plan that reflects community
input on financial literacy topics and integrates real-world and applied
learning opportunities; and
���� BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED that the Board of Education, in collaboration with the Department of
Education, is requested to collect and analyze data on the implementation of
the standalone financial literacy course, including but not limited to student
enrollment and completion rates, course availability across schools, teacher
capacity and training, and any identified barriers to implementation; and
���� BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED that the Board of Education is requested to submit a progress report
on the implementation of the standalone financial literacy course to the
Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular
Session of 2027, and a final report of its findings and recommendations,
including any proposed legislative actions or resource needs, no later than
twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2028; and
���� BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to
the Chairperson of the Board of Education and Superintendent of Education.
Report Title:�
BOE;
DOE; Financial Literacy; Graduation Requirements; Standalone Course