A new California graduation requirement will make personal finance education mandatory for the Class of 2031, while districts like LAUSD work to bring budgeting, credit, taxes, and investing into the classroom.
California will require all high schools to offer a personal finance course starting in 2027-28, and all students must take the class beginning with the graduating class of 2031. By adding the course at most of its high schools before the legislation, Fresno Unified emerged as an early adopter — so much so that the state taped one of the district’s educators to help guide the statewide rollout.
Since the 2023-24 school year, Jeff Allen has led the creation and implementation of personal finance courses across Fresno Unified, helping turn them into some of the district’s most sought-after electives.
The California Department of Education selected Allen to lead the statewide rollout because of his hands-on approach in implementing Fresno Unified’s program. Already, Allen has authored a curriculum guide for the state’s educators.
“I have demonstrated a combination of subject-matter expertise and direct, district-level implementation experience, along with a strong understanding of scheduling, credentialing and classroom realities,” said Scott Roark, a spokesperson for the state department of education.
How things are in LAUSD
LAUSD is in the early-to-middle stages of implementation rather than having a fully established personal finance requirement in place.
Here’s where things stand:
In September 2025, the Los Angeles Unified School District Board approved a resolution to integrate financial literacy and economic justice into the curriculum and develop a dedicated personal finance course for high school students.
The district directed staff to develop the course and provide implementation updates, with planning milestones beginning in 2026. The proposed curriculum includes budgeting, banking, credit, borrowing, taxes, insurance, retirement planning, and investing.
LAUSD is also framing the course through an “economic justice” lens, connecting personal finance topics to broader economic systems and inequities.
The district’s work is partly driven by a statewide mandate.
‘I wish I had that’
In 2024, the state Legislature added personal finance to what every California high school graduate must learn. Assembly Bill 2927 made California the 26th state to require a stand-alone personal finance course for all public high school students.
Making personal finance a graduation requirement has received little resistance because adults recognize its value, Allen said.
“You say personal finance, and it’s like a universal, ‘Oh, I wish I had that,’” he said. “You do not see that physical reaction (to other subjects) from parents and community members the same way that you see it with personal finance because, as an adult, you understand what you didn’t know and how you paid the consequences for it.”
That sentiment resonates with students, too, including 18-year-old Daniel Tecomulapa at the Farber Educational Center.
“I wanted to be better with my finances,” Daniel said.
The practical benefits students receive from learning personal finance has motivated many educators to teach the course. KongMia Her, who teaches the class at Farber, said he wants students entering adulthood to avoid the financial mistakes he made.
“I didn’t have any education,” Her said. “No one taught me at school or at home.”
