FL Republican Kills A Financial Skills Course That Would Have Helped Students Avoid Debt

This past winter, several teachers and business leaders in Florida got really concerned that young Floridians–including many who are going to college–lack knowledge about basic financial skills and concepts. It’s a big deal, because without these skills even the most educated students lack the information they need to stay out of debt. As we all know, heavy debt loads can keep people from getting good jobs or achieving any sort of financial stability. So a coalition of economics teachers and business leaders came up with what seemed to be a perfect solution–“The Money Course,” a half-credit financial skills course that would be required for graduation from all Florida high schools. Unfortunately, despite bipartisan support, it’s all but dead this year–because a single Republican committee chairwoman inexplicably decided to sit on it.

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In December, State Representative Heather Fitzhagen and State Senator Dorothy Hukill, both Republicans, filed companion bills in both of their respective chambers to implement the course effective with the 2014-15 academic year. Read the state house version here and the state senate version here. Both bills quickly attracted wide bipartisan support. So this bill was on an express route to Governor Rick Scott’s desk, right? Well, not quite. According to Peter Scorsch of Saintpetersblog, all of that support didn’t matter because the chairwoman of the state house education committee, Marlene O’Toole, never held a hearing on the bill.

In April, when Florida state government watchers first wondered why O’Toole, who represents several exurban areas between Orlando and Ocala, hadn’t scheduled a hearing for a bill that should have long since cleared both chambers, she gave AP Florida state government reporter Gary Fineout what can diplomatically be described as a non-answer answer. While she supports the idea of a financial skills course, she didn’t have time to bring the bill before her committee. And she never found the time before the legislature adjourned last week. As a result, the state house bill had its first reading late on the night of March 4–and that was the last anyone heard of it during the session. The senate bill cleared the education committee and the appropriations education subcommittee before dying in the full appropriations committee–undoubtedly while waiting for action in the state house. As a result, barring the highly unlikely event of a special session, what sounds like a common-sense bill won’t be taken up again this year. It’s an accepted part of the political game for committee chairmen to sit on bills either they or their party leadership don’t like. But sitting on a bill that doesn’t seem to have even the slightest bit of controversy? Calling this petty would be putting it extremely mildly.

Apparently, the concept of a financial skills course isn’t a new one. When I mentioned this story on my personal Facebook feed, one of my friends, a retired teacher, recalled that there was a course called “Consumer Math” offered around the turn of the millennium in my hometown of Charlotte–but it was scrubbed from the curriculum shortly afterward. The concept was very similar to the proposed “Money Course” in Florida. Another friend of mine from Virginia recalled that when he was in high school, his school offered a course with an identical name and a nearly-identical concept. Both of them felt that this course offered some badly-needed life skills that students will need long after they leave school. However, they were dismayed to report that others didn’t share this view; at both of their schools it was perceived as a “remedial” course for kids who couldn’t get into advanced math classes. I share their dismay. If we’re so fixated on college prep and high-stakes testing that giving all kids basic life skills is considered remedial, our education system is truly broken.


Darrell Lucus.jpg Darrell Lucus is a radical-lefty Jesus lover who has been blogging for change for a decade. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook.

 

Darrell is a 30-something graduate of the University of North Carolina who considers himself a journalist of the old school. An attempt to turn him into a member of the religious right in college only succeeded in turning him into the religious right's worst nightmare--a charismatic Christian who is an unapologetic liberal. His desire to stand up for those who have been scared into silence only increased when he survived an abusive three-year marriage. You may know him on Daily Kos as Christian Dem in NC. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook. Click here to buy Darrell a Mello Yello.