SPRINGFIELD — Students are talking about saving for retirement, learning how to invest in the stock market and creating a budget to decorate a dorm room — all in middle school.
Concerned children may be graduating with few financial skills, getting into debt and facing financial problems because of it, the school department has started a new program to teach students how to manage money before they graduate.
It is being implemented across the district in phases.
The program, which came from the long-term Portrait of a Graduate project, has been piloted in different schools over the past two years. It is designed to begin with kindergarteners and run through high school, said Thomas Rachele, director of humanities for the schools.
“We are committed to addressing the need for financial literacy that has been expressed by parents, students and a number of community partners,” he said.
The program is a comprehensive one that begins in kindergarten with age-appropriate, fun lessons that give children a basic understanding about finances. It also explores career paths in finance, he said.
The lessons, which are being called Financial Fridays, will be spread over nine hours so children will receive a total of 54 hours of financial literacy classes before they graduate to middle school, he said.
When students hit middle school, the classes ramp up and talk about a variety of topics including the gig economy, individual retirement plans, retirement savings and stock investing, he said.
Since some students are old enough to have their first part-time job at that age, they also talk about smart spending and saving, Rachele said.
In one lesson, students are given a budget to decorate and furnish a dorm room and have to figure out what their needs and wants are and how to balance them, he said.
All students receive financial literacy in eighth grade. When they move to high school, it becomes an elective course but it is growing in interest. Last year a little over 500 students across the city took the class and this school year that number has grown to about 772, he said.
The high school course continues on the same pathway of teaching students lessons they will need for the future especially since students are getting closer to joining the workforce or have to make decisions about college and facing how to pay for a higher education and the impact of student loans may have in their future, he said.
The class also studies things like if they buy a car as a teenager, the cost of learning how to drive and paying insurance, he said.
Chief Schools Officer Kimberly Wells said she spent time observing a financial literacy class where high school students were figuring out how they could fall into serious debt with a credit card. At the same time, they also discussed how to build positive credit.
“It was astonishing to watch the students do the math and think about compound interest over time and if they paid their minimum balance what it would actually cost them on their initial purchase,” she said. “To hear them say ‘I’ve never done that.’”
Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, School Committee chairman, said that lesson alone is so valuable because so many young people get into serious credit card debt since it is so easy to apply for a card.
One of the next goals is to train more teachers in the financial literacy curriculum to ensure there are classes available in the high schools for all the students who want to take it, Rachele said.
“There was a report that talked about Massachusetts having an F when it comes to having financial literacy in our schools and I’m so happy that we are a part of the trend of making sure that our kids have financial literacy in our schools,” said LaTonia Monroe Naylor, a committee member.
Joesiah Gonzalez, vice chairman of the committee, asked if the schools were creating any partnerships with financial institutions as part of the curriculum so students can open bank accounts and learn about careers.
Rachele said the program is also working with banks and other financial institutions to add to the program in the future.