HB 339: "An Act establishing a personal finance education program for public schools; and providing for an effective date."
00 HOUSE BILL NO. 339 01 "An Act establishing a personal finance education program for public schools; and 02 providing for an effective date." 03 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 * Section 1. AS 14.30 is amended by adding a new section to read: 05 Article 17. Personal Finance Education Program. 06 Sec. 14.30.850. Personal finance education program. (a) Each school district 07 shall establish a personal finance education program for students in grades nine 08 through 12. The program must be approved by the department. The department shall 09 curate and make available to school districts a list of open educational resources that 10 are approved by the department that in combination address the topics listed in (1) - 11 (14) of this subsection. The list shall include open educational resources that address 12 the topic listed in (15) of this subsection if those resources are available. The 13 department shall update this list at least once every five years. A school district may 14 provide the program through one or more courses offered by the school district, but
01 the program's hours of instruction must in the aggregate be equivalent to a one-half 02 credit hour course. A school may not issue a high school diploma to a student unless 03 the student has completed a personal finance program under this section. The program 04 must include, to the maximum extent practicable, discussion of or instruction on 05 (1) different types of financial institutions and opening and managing 06 an account with a financial institution; 07 (2) making a budget; 08 (3) basic principles of money management, including spending, credit, 09 credit scores, and managing retail debt, credit card debt, and other types of debt; 10 (4) basic principles of completing a loan application; 11 (5) basic principles of personal insurance policies; 12 (6) basic computation of federal income taxes; 13 (7) avoiding fraud, financial deception, and predatory lending 14 practices; 15 (8) simple contracts; 16 (9) contesting an incorrect billing statement; 17 (10) computing interest rates by various mechanisms; 18 (11) types of savings and investments; 19 (12) basic principles of retirement accounts; 20 (13) receiving an inheritance and related financial implications; 21 (14) postsecondary financial aid and scholarships; and 22 (15) financial implications of being a member or a beneficiary of a 23 Native corporation established under 43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq. (Alaska Native Claims 24 Settlement Act) or a similar entity, including payment of dividends and issuance of 25 shares. 26 (b) Notwithstanding (a) of this section, a school may issue a secondary school 27 diploma to a student who has not completed the program described in (a) of this 28 section if the student transferred into the school district from another school district, 29 state, or country after completing grade 10. 30 (c) In this section, 31 (1) "open educational resource" means learning, teaching, or research
01 material in any format that resides in the public domain or is under copyright and has 02 been released under an open license that permits access at no cost as well as reuse, 03 repurpose, adaptation, and redistribution by others; 04 (2) "school district" has the meaning given in AS 14.30.350. 05 * Sec. 2. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 06 read: 07 APPLICABILITY. This Act applies to students who will graduate from high school 08 on or after January 1, 2027. 09 * Sec. 3. This Act takes effect July 1, 2026.