Mt. Healthy High School earned a Gold Standard School award from Next Gen Personal Finance for the Financial Literacy courses offered at the school. Mr. Matthew White and Mrs. Kimberlee Anderson teach the course to instill in students the importance of setting up checking and savings accounts, building positive credit through paying bills on-time, balancing a checking account, and much more. Teacher Matt White noted, “The topic of financial literacy is such an important one for teens preparing to go out into the real world, and I’m proud that Mt. Healthy High School makes this content available to high school students through the Next Gen Personal Finance curriculum.” Financial Literacy is taught as an elective through the Social Studies Department and both Career Exploration and College and Career Readiness are offered as electives through the ENCORE Department. Through the passage of Senate Bill 1 in October 2021, financial literacy will become a required course for all Ohio students entering the 9th grade on and after July 1, 2022.
Next Gen Personal Finance (NGPF) is a non-profit with a mission to ensure every high school student in America takes a personal finance course by the year 2030.
Montana State University researchers teamed up with NGPF to evaluate thousands of high school course catalogs and graduation requirements on the following scale:
Bronze Standard Schools offer some personal finance instruction in less than one continuous semester, often by embedding it into other courses (e.g. Economics).
Silver Standard Schools offer at least one semester of personal finance as a standalone elective OR offer a standalone personal finance course as one option among multiple that can fulfill a one semester graduation requirement.
Gold Standard Schools ensure all students take at least one standalone semester course in personal finance before graduation.
NGPF co-Founder Tim Ranzetta said, “Gold Standard Schools show remarkable leadership, surging ahead of state progress on financial education instead of waiting for a mandate. The teachers, parents, students, administrators, and community leaders in these schools show what can happen when a coalition commits to build the financial capability of the next generation.”
Next Gen Personal Finance (NGPF) is on a mission to ensure all high school students get guaranteed access to a full semester class in personal finance. NGPF.org has become the "one-stop shop" for more than 53,000 financial educators looking for high-quality, engaging curriculum to build the financial capability of their students. NGPF's curriculum, teacher professional development, and advocacy tools are provided at no cost to schools.
All Mt. Healthy High School students are required to complete the Financial Literacy class to graduate. The district believes this provides students with a successful start as they leave high school to begin their pathways into adulthood. Personal finance instruction is currently included in the Financial Literacy course, a high school social studies course, and in all career exploration and college & career readiness courses at Mt. Healthy High School.