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DE PERE — For 20 years, Kelly Herrild has wanted Wisconsin students to learn about personal finance. It’s a social justice issue, she said.
Starting with the Class of 2028, all high school students will be required to take a personal finance course in order to graduate after Gov. Tony Evers signed the requirement in December.
Most teenagers don’t know how credit card debt works or how to start investing in the stock market, but that can be easily learned in school. Mr. Herrido has been teaching the Personal Finance Elective Course at De Pere High School for 18 years.
The course covers a wide range of topics from paying for college to banking, and Herrud sees students experiencing “aha” moments throughout the semester.
“One thing that sticks out in my mind was last spring, when a girl was in class for three days,” she said. “And three days later she came to me and said, ‘Can I tell you that I learned more useful information in three days than I ever learned in a year and a half of studying math?'”
Herrud said children are excited to learn about money because everyone has to deal with it at some point.
I had personal finance instruction in Wisconsin, but I didn’t need the course.
Wisconsin previously required schools to teach personal finance, but left it up to each school district to decide how to teach it. For example, some may dedicate an entire course to the topic, while others may take just a few lessons in a business or economics class.
According to Next Gen Personal Finance, an organization that advocates for teaching financial literacy in schools, about 35% of school districts in the state, including Milwaukee Public Schools and the Green Bay School District, already require independent personal finance for graduation. Students are required to take the course. .
But Herrud wanted to require all high school students to take a complete course on personal finance so they could learn how to file taxes, save for retirement and understand pay stubs.
“If I grew up watching my family not trust banks and rely solely on payday lenders…if that’s all I’ve ever seen and all I know, then that’s what I’ll continue to see… I’m going to keep going,” Herrud said. “When we are given the opportunity to know better, we are given the opportunity to do better.”
“This is very much a social justice issue and I feel very strongly that children deserve this,” she continued.
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Herrud has spent most of her teaching career working to make that a reality. She partnered with Next Gen Personal Finance after she was unsuccessful in implementing the requirements locally in her district. The organization has a goal of requiring every state to take a personal finance course by 2030.
In 2022, Herruld headed to the state Capitol in Madison with other educators from around the state to testify in support of such a request, something she never expected to do. Met.
trying to change the minds of legislators
Although Ms. Herruld had prepared written testimony, she threw it out and gave an entirely impromptu speech before the Assembly Education Committee in 2022.
“As the state of Wisconsin, we need this. We can’t afford to burden our citizens with so much debt. This is in the interest of all of us,” she said.
Several representatives of the committee said they would participate in the hearing in opposition to making personal finance courses mandatory, Herrud said. But they said they later changed their minds after hearing her testimony and those of other educators and students.
Despite this, the bill failed in committee, according to Herrud.
“I was like, oh my gosh, politics really sucks.”
But in March, another bill was introduced, and Herrud returned to the state House to testify again, this time with her daughter Caitlin.
Caitlin, then a freshman, testified before the Senate Education Committee about why it was important to require a personal finance course.
“I’ll never forget that. I mean, the pride I have as a mother, let alone a teacher, is indescribable,” Herrud said.
Instead of going to committee, the bill passed both chambers and reached the governor’s desk.
In December, Gov. Tony Evers signed into law a requirement that all high school students in Wisconsin must earn half of the credits in personal finance to graduate.
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Wisconsin is the 24th state to pass such a requirement, according to Next Gen Personal Finance. The organization lobbied to pass this requirement in the state. Wisconsin joins West Virginia, Indiana, Minnesota, Connecticut, Louisiana and Oregon, which passed similar requirements last year.
Herrud was able to attend the signing of the bill, the final step in a 20-year journey to put the requirements in place.
“The fact that we can believe in something, stand behind it, be persistent and make a difference is huge,” she said.
Danielle DuClos reports for the American Legion in K-12 education for the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact us at dduclos@gannett.com. Follow us on Twitter @danielle_duclos Support her work by making a tax-deductible donation at GreenBayPressGazette.com/RFA or by check made payable to The GroundTruth Project with the subject line “Report for America Green Bay Press Gazette Campaign.” You can support us directly. Address: The GroundTruth Project, Lockbox Services, 9450 SW Gemini Drive, PMB 46837, Beaverton, Oregon 97008-7105.
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