The Delaware legislature advances two bills that would mandate a financial literacy course for high schoolers and a student cell phone use policy.
State Rep. Jeff Hilovsky's (R-Millsboro) legislation would require all public high schools in the First State to provide, at minimum, a half credit financial literacy course.
The goal of the class would be to teach high schoolers about budgeting, retirement savings, taxes and credit.
Rep. Hilovsky referenced a Time Magazine article from 2024 that called financial literacy the “civil rights issue of this generation.”
“And the reason for that is because we have failed our students in ways — not purposefully for sure — but in a quest to put other things on the docket, we have removed some things from the schools over time and part of that is how to manage your life after school and and for some cases in school," he said.
Delaware would become the 28th state to require students to take a stand-alone personal finance course in order to graduate.
The bill passed the House unanimously among members present and will now be taken up by the Senate.
And a bill that would require schools to adopt a policy around cell phone use during school hours is on its final step in the state legislature.
The legislation, sponsored in the House by State Rep. Kim Williams (D-Stanton), builds upon last year’s cell phone pouch pilot program.
The pilot program included eight public schools and over seven thousand students, and data from the program’s final report reveals 83% of faculty and staff are in favor of the pouches.
While the bill does not mandate the use of pouches, Rep. Williams believes mandating schools create policies that limit the use of cell phones during instruction will improve behavioral and educational outcomes.
“The bill requires guidelines for acceptable use, designates appropriate times and places for phone use, and ensures fair enforcement. It also makes room for medical and educational accommodations and emergency use. This is about improving the learning environment," she said during the bill's hearing in the House Education Committee.
The bill passed unanimously among members present in the Senate and only needs to clear the full House before heading to Gov. Matt Meyer for signature.
