Is a high school course with personal finance concepts required to be taken as a graduation requirement? No, a specifically identified course with personal finance concepts is not a graduation requirement. High school graduation requirements are set by local school boards. The State Board of Education has created Graduation Guidelines that include the requirement that each student must create an Individual Career and Academic Plan (ICAP), which includes career-oriented financial literacy concepts. The Department of Education (DOE) indicates on its Teaching Personal Finance in Colorado web page that "Though the state board [of education] strongly encourages local school district boards to require personal finance courses and curriculum throughout the state, only about 25% of districts include personal finance in their approved graduation requirements."
No policy change is pending that would change Colorado's grade.
By law the State Board of Education is required to adopt standards that identify the knowledge and skills that a student should acquire as the student progresses from preschool through elementary and secondary education. Local school districts are required to align their curriculum in their schools to these standards. State law requires the board to ensure that grade 9 to 12 financial literacy standards include certain concepts such as an understanding of the following higher education topics: expected career income, financial aid, student loans, scholarships, and grant programs. The state board-adopted social studies standards have five content areas: history, geography, civics, and personal financial literacy. State law strongly encourages (but does not require) local school boards to:
Colorado law requires the DOE to provide online financial literacy resources for teachers and school districts. In 2022, the state passed a law: (i) allocating $275,000 to provide resources and training in financial literacy to educators and (ii) allocating $200,000 for teacher stipends of $500 to be given to each educator that completes DOE-approved training in financial literacy.
It is not clear how Colorado measures student achievement in financial literacy or how the state monitors local school district implementation of the ICAP financial literacy education requirement.
2028