Starting with the 2027 class, students will be mandated to take personal finance. Students can opt to take this course in either their junior or senior year, but completion is mandatory for graduation. This course is about applying math skills to real life applications like budgeting, banking, income, credit, debt, housing, etc.
According to math teacher Catherine Hall, the state has put a lot of time and effort into making this decision.
“When you see those funny things on Facebook and it’s always like, ‘I learned about a quadrilateral but I didn’t learn about how to do my taxes in school,’” Hall said, “that’s where I think a lot of this is being driven from. We’re trying to get kids to know about college payments and mortgages and car payments and that kind of stuff before they leave, so I do think it’s definitely a valuable course.”
I think it’s useful for the future but it shouldn’t be required because there’s other opportunities and your parents kind of talk to you about it once you get older.
— Lucas Lewertoff ’27
According to CT Insider, the Department of Education understands there may need to be some flexibility with what students take and what categories different classes fall under.
“I think it’s useful for the future but it shouldn’t be required because there’s other opportunities and your parents kind of talk to you about it once you get older,” Lucas Lewertoff ’27 said. “I think you learn more about it once you get older.”
