WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE

2022 REGULAR SESSION

Introduced

House Bill 4812

By Delegates Hornbuckle and Pack

[Introduced February 15, 2022; Referred
to the Committee on Education then Finance]

A BILL to amend  and reenact §18-2-7c of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to allowing the State Board of Education to establish a Prevention of Youth Problem Gambling and Gaming pilot program to be implemented in at least five public high schools, for the duration of three years.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

ARTICLE 2. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION.

§18-2-7c. Program in personal finance.

(a) The Legislature finds and declares that persons with an understanding of personal finance are better prepared to manage their money and that providing a personal finance program in secondary schools in West Virginia will prepare students to handle their finances.

(b) To provide students a basic understanding of personal finance, the state Board shall develop a program of instruction on personal finance which may be integrated into the curriculum of an appropriate existing course or courses for students in secondary schools.

(c) Beginning with the 2022-2023 school year, the state board shall establish a personal finance literacy pilot program to be implemented in at least five public high schools, for the duration of three years.

(1) The state board shall develop the curriculum for the personal finance literacy pilot program on or before July 1, 2022, and in addition to elements addressing personal finance, the curriculum shall include information concerning the nature of gambling and problem gambling.

(2) The public high schools designated for the pilot shall be geographically diverse and include schools in urban and rural areas.

(3) The pilot program terminates at the conclusion of the 2025–2026 school year and the state board shall provide an evaluation of the pilot program’s impact on the performance and progress of students at the participating schools to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability on or before December 31, 2026. The evaluation shall include a recommendation for the pilot program’s continuation, expansion or termination and, if recommended for continuation or expansion, any recommendations for program modifications and utilization of the successful participating schools as demonstration sites to facilitate program expansion.

NOTE: The bill requires the State Board of Education to establish a Personal Finance Literacy pilot program to be implemented in at least five public high schools, for the duration of three years.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.