WA officials revamp push to require financial education to graduate high school
Financial education could soon be a requirement to graduate high school thanks to a renewed legislative push heading into the 2026 session.
State Treasurer Mike Pellicciotti is requesting agency legislation and is teaming up with state Sen. Adrian Cortes, a Battle Ground Democrat. Under the bill, kids would leave high school with the know-how to manage their finances.
A growing number of states are requiring such courses as a prerequisite to graduate.
Pellicciotti announced the bill’s pre-filing at a news conference Dec. 4 inside the Treasurer’s Office in the Washington state Capitol building. Pellicciotti said that of the thousands of Washingtonians with whom he’s spoken, he has yet to meet anyone who thinks they know all they need to know when it comes to financial literacy and education.
Pellicciotti said that what “truly shocks” Washington residents is that financial ed isn’t a requirement in schools. Some have asked him why it has taken so long for the state to catch up.
“It is indefensible to me. I do not have a good answer for them,” Pellicciotti said. “It is even harder to say that to a current high school student who cannot understand in any way why we are unable to teach something that they recognize is so critical to their ability to succeed.”
As of August, public high school students in 29 states must take a standalone personal finance course, according to the financial technology company Intuit.
A prior iteration of the proposed legislation, House Bill 1915 by Republican state Rep. Skyler Rude of Walla Walla, was considered in 2024. Although it attracted robust bipartisan support in both the House and Senate — passing unanimously in the lower chamber — it ran out of steam after neither agreed to concur on a compromise, as reported by the Inlander.
And last session’s vehicle, Rude’s HB 1285, soared past the House on a 94-3 vote but didn’t get a hearing in the Senate.
Cortes said at the news conference Dec. 4 that he was surprised that his caucus ignored last session’s bill: “But I think everybody can agree that our plate was kind of full.” There were lots of other priorities crowding legislators’ bandwidths, he said.
State lawmakers in the 2025 session raced to figure out how to bridge a multi-billion-dollar budget gap, with fiery debates on new taxes and spending cuts.
Other news conference speakers argued that requiring financial education ensures that all students, regardless of their family’s financial status, can learn how to navigate big challenges in adulthood, including buying a new home.
Vanessa Medina, a teacher in the Vancouver School District, said recent high-school graduates are asked to cover the cost of trade school or college through student loans and to sign a lease for their first apartment.
“The world requires our young people to engage in financial paperwork that will immediately — and if they’re not careful, indefinitely — impact their lives,” Medina said at the event Dec. 4.
Asked whether he’d like to see anything in particular included in the coursework, such as lesson plans on debt or credit cards, Pellicciotti said all the above. He emphasized that he wants school districts to have the flexibility to craft curriculum that meets their unique needs.
This time around, Cortes said that one difference in his bill lies in reporting requirements, which can lead to added cost at the district level and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. He said financial ed will become a requirement in 2033 and noted that the fiscal impact would be quite low.
Cortes is a special-education teacher who said he’s seen firsthand how crucial it is to prepare students for becoming an adult.
“I believe by supporting this legislation, it’s helping working-class families,” he said. “It’s helping future small business owners that are going to be taking the reins in our state.”
This story was originally published December 5, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
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