Illinois schools will be required to teach financial literacy skills such as balancing a checkbook and putting money into a savings account this school year.
The Illinois State Board of Education adopted revised social science standards in 2015. Those standards were approved in February 2016 and include financial literacy throughout elementary, middle and high school.
The Illinois Treasurer's Office, nonprofit Econ Illinois and Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation pushed for the financial literacy standards.
President and executive director of Econ Illinois, Nancy Harrison, says the standards begin basic concepts at the elementary level. She says students will learn the importance of saving, having a good credit score and investing.
Illinois is one of 45 states to add financial literacy into its standards.
