Is a high school course with personal finance concepts required to be taken as a graduation requirement? No, personal finance is not included in the graduation requirements, either as a stand-alone course or embedded in another course, and schools are not required to offer financial literacy courses. Four credits are required in social studies, but none of them include a specific course with personal finance concepts. See: Hawaii High School Graduation Requirements.
Hawaii is in the process of revising its social studies standards, which had not been revised since 2005. The current standards include seven strands of economics in the Grade 12 social studies content standards. See: Hawaii Social Studies Standards (pages 147-153). Hawaii could improve its grade if it develops substantive or even modest personal finance standards as part of its revised social studies standards.
In the fall of 2015, the Financial Literacy Task Force released a report that made its recommendations for increasing financial literacy among young Hawaiians. The report made five recommendations, including aligning current content standards with financial literacy concepts, establishing a financial literacy resource page on the Department of Education website, and identifying professional development opportunities for teachers to deliver personal finance education. See: Hawaii Financial Literacy Task Force Report 2015.