Sen Bohachek has introduced SB 68 which would require that a personal finance course serve as a substitute for Algebra II where the Indiana State Board of Education has adopted a Core 40 curriculum model that requires Algebra II as a math requirement.
Candidly, I don’t remember Algebra II well enough to know how it differs from Algebra I and, therefore, the utility of adding a personal finance class would exceed whatever is lost by removing an Algebra II requirement. On its face, I guess it doesn’t sound like a horrible idea. But, in my mind, the personal finance requirement conjures up complaints about “kids these days” being frivolous with their money. I’m thinking of those arguments resisting health care reform because Millennials had iPhones and were eating avocado toast. I think personal finance education is a good idea, but it’s nothing like a panacea for the financial challenges people face.
(I’ve suggested in the past that maybe the State could issue “model” budgets for families at various income levels but cynically thought that the idea wouldn’t fly because then the State would have to recognize that most of the things that families “should” be doing simply aren’t possible at some of the income levels that are common in Indiana.)