This new requirement goes into effect for the class of 2027, or current sophomores.
Grants Pass School District 7 has offered a class on career path skills for years, but not one on personal finance. Trisha Evens, director of secondary education, said parents have been asking for this type of course.
"We've been told, 鈥楳y kid doesn't know how to open a bank account, they don't know how to invest, they don't understand the concept of balancing a checkbook, how credit cards work.鈥� We'd like it to have some real life skill application," she said.
The goal of these courses, Evens said, is to prepare students for the real world.
"Students will be more prepared for life after high school to navigate day to day living, away from their parents鈥� home, on their own, contributing to our economy, to our workforce in a way that helps us be productive," she said.
But, Evens said it鈥檚 hard work for the district to create a new, separate course, as the state requires, rather than integrating the material into current classes. The district is working to develop the personal finance course and plans to offer it next year.
"We offer economics, so one would think personal finance could just integrate into the economics class, but it became very clear over the summer that is not allowed," she said. "We're in the process of developing that. There will be some residual effect on some of our other classes, but we haven't quite figured that out yet."
According to the law, the higher education and career path skills course includes instruction on things like applying for jobs, college, financial aid and scholarships and developing career-related skills.
The personal financial education course, meanwhile, includes instruction on things like credit scores, investments, strategies for creating a budget, taxes and building financial wellbeing.
"Many districts are currently determining what implementation of the new diploma requirements related to Senate Bill 3 may look like depending on what鈥檚 already in place within their local school district," according to a statement from the Oregon Department of Education. "ODE is committed to supporting all districts in this transition through the development of new state standards, professional learning opportunities and sharing instructional material resources."
Some districts, like the Klamath County School District, already had these classes in place and will only need to make minor adjustments to comply with state law.
Others, like the Phoenix-Talent School District, are still in the planning stage for both courses.
The Medford School District will instead "develop a strategic, four-year scope and sequence of career and college readiness credits for students," according to a statement from the district. "This approach allows students to get the most developmentally-appropriate standards at the age when those standards will be most relevant to them."
"Districts can decide locally how the courses will be implemented and the grade levels in high school in which students will take the courses based on the law and rule," according to a statement from ODE.
Evens said Grants Pass School District 7 has already seen positive impacts in the years it has been offering the course on career path skills.
"The class opens up opportunities for students to explore things that maybe they wouldn't have, had they not taken that interest survey and realized, 'Hey, I have a real strength in engineering. Maybe I should explore what kind of careers would an engineer have,'" she said. "It opens up the doors of possibility for students, and that's what we want them to know. There's lots of opportunity."
School districts can also request a one-year waiver of these new state requirements if they are unable to provide the courses due to a lack of qualified teachers.
