Why Washington's high school financial education bill didn't survive the '24 session

A bill to require financial education in Washington high schools died this session. Lawmakers in both chambers of the state Legislature failed to agree on whether to make it a high school graduation requirement.

Washington state Rep. Skyler Rude (R-Walla Walla) sponsored House Bill 1915, which would have required high schools to provide a half-credit of financial education by the 2027-28 school year. While the bill would not have raised the 24 credits required for students to graduate, it would have required students to take financial education in order to graduate.

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While the idea received broad support, it got caught up in the legislative process before the session's clock ran out. It passed the House, but was amended in the Senate. When a bill is amended outside of its chamber of origin, it must be sent back to the original chamber for another round of approval. The House did not accept the changes, and the bill officially died Thursday as the Legislature wrapped up the 2024 session.

To require or not to require financial education

Despite the bill passing the House in February, some lawmakers raised concerns about its approach. Those concerns came to a head in the state Senate, where lawmakers amended the bill to require high schools to provide financial education, but not to require students to take it in order to graduate. The amended bill was approved in the Senate with just one vote against it.

State Sen. Lisa Wellman (D-Mercer Island) sponsored the amendment, essentially arguing it would skip a step.

"This bill came to us as a graduation requirement without any prerequisites other than the fact that for many years we've suggested to our school districts that they incorporate financial instruction into ... other courses," Wellman said on the Senate floor on Feb. 29, ahead of a vote on the bill.

Sen. Wellman said schools have been asked to make that a priority over the years, "which has or has not happened."

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"Having good sense and knowledge of financial matters is really an important thing," she said. "What this amendment does is to say we're not ready to make this a graduation requirement."

Wellman said there is support for making financial education a graduation requirement — in the future. First, she said, the Legislature has to ensure financial education is available to all students.