BOSTON – Credit scores, interest rates and taxes. Nine out of 10 students in Massachusetts are not required to learn about these things. Should the state make financial literacy a requirement for students?
As a teenager navigating middle school and high school Sean Simonini never got “the talk.”
“So, you think of the ‘birds and the bees’ right, that’s pretty uncomfortable topic right? But people feel even more uncomfortable talking to their kids about credit cards!” Simonini said.
Simonini says our schools really aren’t talking about money either. He was a star student at Billerica High. He earned a full scholarship to the University of Massachusetts-Lowell.
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“But I couldn’t tell you anything about my taxes,” Simonini said. “Couldn’t tell you what a credit score was. What a 401k was.”
So, the 19-year-old college sophomore is on a mission which started in high school, when Simonini joined his town’s school board as a student representative. Lately, he’s been testifying at the State House pushing a bill which would make a standalone, financial literacy class a requirement for every student in every district. The classes and teacher training would be funded by the State, not the local communities, with a so-called “financial literacy trust fund.”
“I started pulling together what would an education look like, where every student walked away with the skills they need to succeed. One of the first gaps I saw staring back at me was the lack of financial literacy here in the Commonwealth,” Simonini said.
Right now, 25 states have financial literacy as a graduation requirement. Massachusetts isn’t one of them. Yet our neighbors in New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rhode Island do require the course. Champlain College in Vermont has a Financial Literacy Center and puts out a report card every year grading each state on their efforts. Twenty-nine states got an ‘A’ or ‘B’. Massachusetts got an ‘F.’
Why? Well, out of more than 300 school districts in our state, only 16 districts require students to pass personal finance class.
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Simonini says we are setting kids up to take on a lifetime of debt without knowing the ramifications. “We are allowing 18 year-olds to sign off on loans that are half a mortgage. Hundreds of thousands in an instant. And we are not orienting them at all to the financial impacts that can have on them decades down the road,” Simonini said.
Sue Camparato is teacher in Swampscott who believes Massachusetts is falling way behind other states. Swampscott is one of the districts that requires a personal finance class. Camparato teaches her students about credit scores, interest rates, stocks, how to save money and how to file taxes.
Swampscott teacher Sue Camparato
CBS Boston
“I never have anyone say, ‘When am I going to use this?’ Never,” Camparato said.
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One of her students, Sam Snitkovsky says this education has never been more important. He says kids are constantly targeted on sites like TikTok by so called money gurus peddling financial fiction.
“This information isn’t coming from like ‘user3015.’ It’s coming from an actual teacher in the school, and you know the information is true,” Sam said.
Simonini thinks our lawmakers mistakenly think students are learning about money at home or in the nearly extinct “home ec” classes they took. “Over 50% of parents in this country don’t feel comfortable talking to their kids about money,” Simonini said.
State Treasurer Deb Goldberg leads the state’s Office of Financial Empowerment which offers a ton of free programs outside the class for young children all the way through senior citizens. “When we do our Credit for Life fairs for high school students, it is amazing what they don’t know,” said Goldberg.
Goldberg also believes a financial literacy course should be a requirement and is hoping lawmakers will move on the issue.
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Goldberg believes a public-private partnership between Beacon Hill and outside partners could pay for the programs in every district. There are certainly hurdles to clear but she and Simonini think it’s needs to happen. Massachusetts cannot get an “F” on its next report card.
If you have a question you’d like us to look into, please email questioneverything@cbsboston.com.
David Wade
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Multiple award-winning journalist David Wade co-anchors WBZ-TV News at 5, 6 and 11 p.m. with co-anchor Lisa Hughes and chief meteorologist Eric Fisher.
CHELMSFORD, MASS. (WHDH) – A wrong-way driver crashed into another vehicle on I-495 in Chelmsford Tuesday night, shutting down the soundbound lanes in that area, according to Massachusetts State Police and The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT).
State police said Troopers from the Concord Barracks responded to a two-car crash on I-495 at the Hunt Road overpass shortly before 10 p.m. They said preliminary information indicates the crash happened as a result of a wrong-way driver striking a vehicle traveling in the correct direction.
Chelmsford Fire and EMS responded to the scene, and the driver was taken to the hospital by MedFlight. State police said they suffered life-threatening injuries.
MassDOT said the highway southbound is currently closed at exit 88 due to the crash, and is expected to remain closed for several hours.
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Drivers are asked to seek alternate routes at this time.
This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.
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Two people were seriously injured in a stabbing at the Cedar’s Mediterranean Foods manufacturing facility in Haverhill, Massachusetts, on Tuesday morning.
Haverhill police said they responded to the Cedar’s plan on Foundation Avenue around 10:30 a.m. for a report of a disturbance involving a weapon. When they arrived, they found two people suffering from apparent stab wounds.
Both people were provided with medical assistance on scene and taken to area hospitals with what police described as serious injuries. Their names have not been released, and no update on their conditions was immediately available.
Preliminary investigation determined that the two people knew each other, and police said there is no ongoing threat to the public. They said their investigation into the incident remains active.
Two Plymouth, Massachusetts teens were saved from the summit of Mount Washington after a leg injury stranded them.
Khang Nguyen,17, said he and his friend, 18-year-old Vaughn Webb, thought they were well prepared for their hike on Saturday. They brought trekking poles, layers, microspikes for their boots and more.
But halfway up the trail, Nguyen feared the worst when his leg began to hurt.
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“It was just incredibly painful to lift up my right leg,” he explained. “I told [Vaughn] to leave me behind so I could go on my own pace and for him to reach the summit to get help at first.”
The pair managed to reach the top of the mountain but had to seek shelter next to a building as wind gusts increased, and the air temperature reached 38 degrees. Nguyen said they also ran out of food and water. The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department received the 911 call around 7:30 p.m. and quickly alerted a State Park employee who began to search for the two teens.
“Conservation Officers then began responding in four-wheel-drive pickup trucks to try and get to the summit and back ahead of incoming snow,” the game department said in a statement.
After around 30 minutes of reaching both Webb and Nguyen were found. They were taken inside a building and Nguyen was being treated for his injury.
“The worker that was up there, [said] that they came in record time, and we appreciate their help a lot. It saved our lives potentially,” Nguyen explained.
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The pair was successfully taken off the mountain by 10 p.m. The two teens are now safely back in Massachusetts and are incredibly grateful to their rescuers.
