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, and schools are not required to offer financial literacy courses.
No policy change is pending that would change Montana's grade.
Montana content standards indicate what all students should know when they graduate. Montana requires students to take two years of social studies but does not identify specific social studies courses to be taken. The social studies standards consist of four content standards that are made up of 43 skill standards. The economics content standards consist of nine skill standards. One of these skills (or 2% of all social studies skill standards) includes modest personal finance concepts. Montana requires students to take one year of career and technical education. The career and technical education standards consist of 12 content standards. One of these skills (or 8% of the standards) includes instruction on preparing for postsecondary education and career paths.
In 2023, HB 535 became law in Montana. This bill is aspirational in nature. It added the following to an existing statute: "Legislative goals for public elementary and secondary schools. It is the goal of the legislature that Montana's public elementary and secondary school system, in cooperation with parents or guardians, create a learning environment for each student that: (9) supports instruction of financial literacy, where students obtain the knowledge and skills required to succeed financially." (The words in bold were added to the existing law.) The law does not require that any action be taken by any state board or agency or local school districts.
It is not clear how Montana measures student achievement in financial literacy or how the state monitors local school district implementation of these very modest financial literacy education requirements.
2028