Thank you so much for visiting this site, and for your interest in financial education. I am currently working to pass major legislation that will ramp up financial and economic education efforts for students and adults. As part of that effort, I have worked to bring together resources and information on this page to help Washingtonians access financial education efforts locally, learn more about financial basics, and find out about the importance of bringing personal finance lessons into the classroom.
Unfortunately, one of the many reasons our country has fallen into the current economic recession is that too many Americans made uninformed and risky financial decisions. In order to avoid another devastating economic crisis, we are going to have to work to ensure that more Americans have the skills they need to make financially sound decisions.
My bi-partisan bill, The Financial and Economic Literacy Improvement Act of 2009, will provide $250 million in grants annually to states to support teaching financial literacy in grades K-12 and at 2-and 4-year colleges.
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Sources: Harris Poll 2009 Financial Literacy Poll | McClatchy Newspapers 3/15/09
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Pam Whalley, Director of the Center
for Economic Education, Western Washington University: “If not now, when? When will we provide
our children with the tools they need to take control of their
financial lives? The need could not be more apparent. When all is
said and done, financial illiteracy is one of the root causes of our
current financial crisis, yet financial education has been disappearing
from our schools. Senator Murray’s bill will help us begin
constructing a firm foundation of financial knowledge in elementary
school, building on this foundation as our children mature, so that by
the time they graduate, they will have the skills they need to take
control of their financial lives.”
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Don Ide, Financial Education Teacher at Lynwood High School: “Even with our current economic situation, our economic system is the envy of the entire world. Credit is one of the most wonderful tools we have in our economy. All citizens need to learn how to use credit wisely. Wise use of credit will help you countless times in the future and enhance your life. Foolish use of credit can ruin your life and make you miserable.“It is exciting to see the Federal Government
initiate legislation to improve the financial literacy for all
Americans. We take so much of our economic system for granted, but
without proper instruction, our economic system is no better than our
least knowledgeable citizen. We need to teach our youth how to thrive
in our economic system through financial literacy.”