HOUSE MEMORIAL 59

52nd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2016

INTRODUCED BY

Matthew McQueen

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE PUBLIC EDUCATION DEPARTMENT AND THE WORKFORCE SOLUTIONS DEPARTMENT TO STUDY AND DEVELOP RECOMMENDATIONS TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WHO TAKE FINANCIAL LITERACY EDUCATION CLASSES.

     WHEREAS, financial literacy focuses on the specific knowledge and concepts that individuals need to manage money and, ultimately, to build financial security and wealth; and

     WHEREAS, financial literacy courses teach students how to create and manage a household budget, how to use and manage credit, including student loans, and how to save and invest money for retirement and other life goals; and

     WHEREAS, under current law, financial literacy courses are offered to ninth through twelfth grade students on an elective basis only; and

     WHEREAS, several states adopted resolutions in 2014 to include financial literacy as a mandatory part of a high school student's education; and

     WHEREAS, in January 2016, the investor education foundation supported by the financial industry regulatory authority, known as FINRA, released data showing that high school students who are required to take personal finance courses have better-than-average credit scores and lower debt delinquency rates as young adults; and

     WHEREAS, the investor education foundation study further found that personal finance education lowers a student's future probability of falling ninety or more days behind on credit accounts; and

     WHEREAS, financial education, just like reading and writing, affects the well-being of every individual, and it also affects the economic and social well-being of every community and, ultimately, the overall strength of the state and national economies;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the public education department, in coordination with the workforce solutions department, be requested to study and develop recommendations for increasing the number of students who take financial literacy classes and to report their findings to the legislative education study committee by August 1, 2016; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the secretary of public education, the secretary of workforce solutions and the chair of the legislative education study committee.

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