FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

April 26, 2004
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Deputy Assistant Secretary Dan Iannicola, Jr. Joins the Jump Start Coalition
in Mississippi to Announce State Specific Results
of the Jump Start Personal Finance Survey

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Financial Education Dan Iannicola, Jr. today joined the Mississippi Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy (Mississippi Jump$tart) at a press conference to announce the results of Jump$tart’s personal finance survey.  The survey, administered to 12th graders in random high schools around the country, measured levels of personal finance knowledge and compared results from similar surveys conducted in 2002, 2000, and 1997.

The survey’s results reveal that students nationwide and in Mississippi are showing an increased aptitude and ability to manage financial resources.  The nationwide results of the Jump $tart survey showed that seniors have improved since the last survey conducted in 2002.  Students answered 52.3 percent of the questions correctly compared to 50.2 percent in 2002.  Students in Mississippi answered 53.3 percent of the questions correctly.  Also, there was a positive impact on students nationwide attending required money management courses in high school (54.1 percent).    

Deputy Assistant Secretary Iannicola commended efforts for continued improvement in financial education at the national, state, and local level.  “Always remember that you’ve helped kids you’ll never meet in ways they’ll never know,” said Iannicola.  “On behalf of President Bush, Secretary Snow, and the U.S. Department of the Treasury, I want to commend Mississippi Jump$tart on how it has served the country, and I want to encourage all of you to keep up the fight to make every child in Mississippi financially literate.”    

Today’s press conference took place in the Rotunda of the Capitol in Jackson, Mississippi.  Participants in the press conference included Eric Clark, Secretary of State; Jim Hood, Attorney General; Tate Reeves, State Treasurer; David Barrentine and Evelyn Edwards, Bankcorp South; Steffani Jenkins, Union Planters; Julie McAdory, Mississippi Jump$tart Coalition President; and William Cheeks, Eastern States Coordinator for Jump$tart.

The Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy is a non-profit organization that seeks to improve the personal financial literacy of young adults. Jump$tart's purpose is to evaluate the financial literacy of young adults; develop, disseminate, and encourage the use of standards for grades K-12; and promote the teaching of personal finance.

The Department of the Treasury established the Office of Financial Education (OFE) in May 2002. The OFE coordinates the Department’s interdisciplinary financial education efforts to raise awareness and ensure consumers have access to resources that can help all Americans make wiser personal finance management, spending, saving, and investing choices.  The OFE’s role to promote financial education through its policymaking function, its outreach efforts, and by working with public and private sector entities remains focused on furthering individual financial success and the country’s ongoing economic growth.  The OFE also coordinates the efforts of the Financial Literacy and Education Commission, a group chaired by the Secretary of Treasury and composed of representatives from 20 federal departments, agencies, and commissions, which works to improve financial literacy and education for people throughout the United States.  For more information about the Office of Financial Education visit:  www.treas.gov/financialeducation.

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