Kansas program teaches students personal financial literacy

WICHITA, Kan. -- The boy sitting a few rows back from the board, the one in the gray sweat shirt, is impatient.

He's not interested in how to earn a few bucks of interest every month, he said. "I want to double my money."

His buddy said there's a way to do it, the boy tells Marquis Murphy. Why can't this class learn it, too?

"Let's hold off on that till next time. We'll get to the Rule of 72," Murphy said, referring to a way to figure how long it will take an investment to double.

Murphy isn't the regular teacher in this Southeast High School class. A longtime employee of Great Plains Federal Credit Union, the 33-year-old devotes most of his time to teaching financial skills at high schools through his not-for-profit Youth Educational Empowerment Program.

Young people need to learn money management now, Murphy says, so they'll have time to make smart decisions throughout their lives.

"Finances are what we deal with on a day-to-day basis, no matter how old you are or what color you are."

A 2003 state law required public school curriculum to include personal finance standards.

"After learning to read and write, learning financial literacy is the next most important thing we can teach our children," said Carol Rupe, the State Board of Education member from Wichita. She helped craft the financial-literacy bill with Sen. Jean Schodorf, R-Wichita.

Under the standards, students should graduate with knowledge in four areas: income, money management, spending and credit, and savings and investment.

That's not always the case, though, said Tim Hagan, director of education for Wichita's Consumer Credit Counseling Service, a not-for-profit group that helps people manage a budget. Along with classes for adults, his organization also gives presentations at schools on basic money management skills.

Financial-literacy skills often are not taught in any depth, he said.

In the age of No Child Left Behind, with its emphasis on test performance in reading and math, other curriculum sometimes is shortchanged.

"I tend to hear from teachers that, 'I've only got so many hours to teach. If I teach to the Kansas standards for financial education, what do you want me not to teach instead?'" Hagan said. "I understand that. There's a lot of competition for teachers' time."

Ideally, he says, schools would have a financial education department and require classes on money management.

"Money is too easy to get and the consequences aren't talked about," said Valerie Most, a Southeast teacher who brings Murphy into her financial management class.

"There's a need for this type of education because there's more out there than with previous generations," she said.