AB 858: Pupil instruction: California Financial Literacy Initiative.

Existing law establishes a system of public elementary and secondary education in this state. Under this system, local educational agencies throughout the state provide instruction to pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive.

This bill would establish the California Financial Literacy Initiative as a program for improving financial literacy by offering instructional materials for teachers and parents to provide high-quality financial literacy education for pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive. The bill would provide that the initiative would be under the administration of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

The bill would authorize the Superintendent to convene a Financial Literacy Advisory Committee to review materials that could be provided on the Internet in a centralized location for access by local educational agencies, as specified. The bill would require online curricula included in an online library, or otherwise promoted or made available, through this initiative to conform to specified provisions protecting pupil privacy and protecting pupils against marketing directed at them through instructional materials.

The bill would specify that its provisions would be operative in any fiscal year only if an appropriation of sufficient funds for its purposes is enacted in the annual Budget Act or another statute.