San Mateo Union plans for personal finance course: A 1-semester personal finance class will be a requirement for high school graduation beginning with class of 2031 students

With the passage of Assembly Bill 2927, the course will be established as a graduation requirement for the class of 2031 students. 

Until then, the district will develop the curriculum, pilot the class and ensure its placement on students’ schedules is optimal, the district Board of Trustees learned in a presentation on the new requirement at a recent board meeting.  The course will be piloted as a one-semester class, first as an optional elective, until it is required by state law. Incoming freshmen in the 2027-28 school year will have to take it before graduating. 

In the course, students will learn the fundamentals of personal banking, credit and loans, filing taxes, financing major costs throughout adulthood, and employment and net income.  Many of these lessons are already taught during the microeconomic and finance lessons within the currently-required economics class — taken by 12th graders for one semester, partnered with the American Government course for the other semester. 

These lessons already tend to be the ones that resonate most with students, teacher Alex Dove, who served on the course task force, said. 

“They see that it’s relevant to their lives,” Dove said. “They’re starting to make real financial decisions and it’s no longer theoretical, it’s actually applicable.” 

Economics teachers initially were frustrated by the new regulation, because the bill’s language suggests the personal finance course as an alternative to economics. Once the course as a requirement takes effect, the district could opt to allow students to opt out of taking economics if they take personal finance. 

However, after studying it further through a task force, there are many economics philosophies and lessons that will still be maintained in the new course, teacher Carlo Corti said. 

“If we’re going to teach a personal finance course, what economic concepts can we keep in that personal finance course and are there personal finance lessons we already teach?” Corti said.  Any lesson established in the personal finance course can’t be taught without a corresponding economics lesson, Corti said. 

“There’s no way you can talk about budgeting without talking about opportunity costs,” Corti said. “There’s no way to talk about taxes without talking about fiscal policy. There’s no way to talk about buying a house without talking about supply and demand — especially in the Bay Area.”

Trustees initially held a similar concern as teachers, that the new course would phase out economics curriculum, but the task force’s confidence in the ability to maintain the quality of education students’ would receive quelled nerves. The district will likely consider continuing offering economics as an elective, once the personal finance course becomes required.

“This is a worthwhile class that kids are going to get a lot out of,” Trustee Greg Land said, after the presentation. 

Taking the course as a senior, just ahead of graduation, is critical for students as the stakes are about to rise for them, Dove said. 

“That’s really when they’re going to be making decisions that will affect the quality of their life in the future,” Dove said. 

The course could also be a great equalizer for students of all educational backgrounds and abilities, providing a level ground of personal finance knowledge before they enter into the postgraduate world. This could be particularly helpful for students learning English or who are newcomers and would benefit from a crash course in how to best spend, save and invest their own money as they get older, Trustee Ligia Andrade Zúñiga said. Dove agreed. 

“In many ways, it gives you access to economics language that is much more everyday language,” Dove said. 

The district will continue refining the course curriculum and propose a final plan for board approval in the fall. The following school year, 12th grade students will be able to take the elective course as a districtwide pilot. 

Over the next three years, the course will continue to be refined based upon student and teacher feedback, with a full implementation as a graduation requirement in fall 2030.