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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 14, 2002

Contact Rebecca Reid at 202-342-2922

Education Bill Hands Victory to Americans for Consumer Education and Competition

Funding earmarked for fiscal education pursuits is first in education history

Washington, D.C. (January 14, 2002) – In the future, students might literally learn how to count their pennies. For the first time ever, as part of the federal education bill that President Bush signed on January 8th, significant funding has been allocated for state-side initiatives in the area of personal finance education. Americans for Consumer Education and Competition (ACEC) was instrumental in lobbying Congress to recognize the vacuum in the knowledge of teenagers and young adults when it comes to handling money.

“This is a significant stride in the right direction,” said Susan Molinari, chairman of ACEC.

The former congresswoman from New York and mother of two said that “personal finance knowledge among young people is nearly non-existent. America’s young people are losing the grip on their purse strings and it’s hurting them and it’s hurting banks and businesses. Now that federal funding has been made available to individual states, we can work with those legislatures and educators to develop program curricula to address this escalating problem.”

Young adults are the fastest growing and largest category of bankruptcies in the U.S. Last year, ACEC unveiled a national survey of high school seniors entitled America’s Money Skills Report Card, in which every senior, except for those already enrolled in a personal finance class, failed.

More than $3 billion dollars, to be dispersed over the next six years, will be allocated to local agencies to pursue a variety education programs. Listed in the bill under Local Innovative Education Programs, personal finance education is one of those programs.

“Wisconsin and Delaware were out of the gate on this issue long before federal funding became available,” said Mike Canning, president of ACEC. “Now, it’s our goal to bring other states up to speed on fiscal education in high schools. We’ll do it.”

The bill supports “activities to promote consumer, economic, and personal finance education, such as disseminating and encouraging best practices for teaching the basic principles of economics and promoting the concept of achieving financial literacy through the teaching of personal financial management skills (including the basic principles involved with earning, spending, saving and investing).”

ACEC is the nation’s leader in the pursuit of financial literacy for America’s youth and advocate of consumer education and competition in the marketplace.