Louisiana High School Students Required to Take Course Before Graduation

(KTDY) - High School students in Louisiana must now take a new course before they can graduate.

Parents with students entering their Freshman or Sophomore year in high school have been notified that their kids will now be taking a required course starting this school year.

For several years, many have been lobbying for the schools to teach kids about "real-life" situations before graduating, and the state of Louisiana may have been listening to the pleas.

A new law in the state now requires those students in the 9th and 10th grades to take a "Financial Literacy" course before they can graduate and receive their diploma.

According to a message sent to parents, this course will focus on the following: banking, money management, insurance, and taxes.

Students graduating in Louisiana will now have a much better understanding of how to manage things, like their finances, after high school.

According to a message from my son's school, parents will now see "Financial Literacy" on their child's class schedule, rather than "Instructional Focus."

The hope here is that with such education, once students are done with school, they will be able to manage their money better, which in turn should reduce delinquent accounts in the state, and even contribute to the state's economic growth.

What Does Financial Literacy Teach in Schools?

This new curriculum in Louisiana schools will focus on the following:

• Types of bank accounts, managing them, and evaluating banking services.
• Balancing a checkbook.
• Basic principles of money management, including spending, credit, credit scores, and debt management.
• Completing loan applications.
• Understanding inheritances and related implications.
• Basic principles of personal insurance policies.
• Computing federal income taxes and understanding local tax assessments.
• Computing interest rates.
• Simple contracts.
• Contesting incorrect billing statements.
• Types of savings and investments.
• State and federal laws concerning finance.

How do you feel about this implementation in Louisiana schools? You can let us know in the comments section.

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Most public schools in Louisiana are scheduled to reopen the first week in August. So yes, school zones will soon be in effect, and school buses will be back on the roads.

Please remain vigilant while on the roads this school year.