State to Expand K-12 Personal Finance Education to Semester Course [Audio]

Tuesday on Lubbock's First News, Joni Rodela, social studies coordinator for LISD, gave an overview of economic education for K-12.

Rodela said there has a been a push for increased literacy of personal finance to better prepare high school students to be self-sustaining adults. She said the Texas state standard has an "economic strand" for K through 12th grade. There is currently a three-week course that focuses on teaching students about interest, insurance, credit, and other general banking practices. Because many believe there should be more time for implementation, efforts are being made to set the class as a semester-long course, as a result of the House Bill 5 initiative, by the 2016 school year.

Rodela said understanding some important financial ideas begins in kindergarten, but in 3rd grade, students "begin to explain how government regulations and taxes, affect consumer costs. They begin looking, at 8 years old, what the effects of our government choices are upon consumer costs." She noted that all  2,400 3rd graders will participate in the upcoming Lubbock Lemonade Day, which will expand on a lot of the concepts learned about through the economic education classes.

Listen to the full interview:

Or listen on your mobile device: KFYO LFN Joni Rodela April 29 2014 // KFYO.com