Gov. DeSantis signs Financial Literacy Act, local attorneys react

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) - Starting this coming school year, making sense of dollars and cents will be on the curriculum for Florida students.

They’ll have to pass a financial literacy class before graduating high school.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the legislation on Tuesday, March 22. It comes after a decade-long campaign by Florida bankruptcy judges and lawyers.

Several bankruptcy attorneys in Tallahassee and surrounding areas said they have advocated for financial literacy classes to be part of the state’s curriculum since 2012.

The Financial Literacy Act requires high school students to take a half-credit course on personal financial literacy and money management.

That course will include lessons on how to balance a checkbook, manage a personal budget and create a financial plan.

“We believe that it is a great thing for the State of Florida and for high school students who will become functioning adults in society and know this information and we now have a vehicle to provide it to them. So, in a word we are ecstatic,” said Attorney Doug Bates.

Florida has among the highest bankruptcy rates in the country

Attorney Doug Bates hopes this course will help change that.

“Bankruptcies are always there of course for people who suffer hardship beyond their capabilities, but the idea is that personal financial literacy will help lower the case numbers,” Bates said.

This will make Florida just the seventh state to require high school students to take a course on financial literacy.

The law will go into effect starting with the new school year this fall.

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