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Finance class public hearing tonight
The Halifax County School Board will hold a public hearing on its
personal finance class as a graduation requirement tonight at 7 p.m. at
the Mary Bethune Complex in Halifax.
Technically, the board already approved it beginning with the Class of
2012, but concerns about cost and the speed with which it’s being
implemented have prompted Trustees to slow down and formally seek
public opinion.
New Trustee Joe Gasperini, a businessman who has spearheaded the drive
for the requirement, has said it could be the single most important
class a student ever takes. He has cited the complexities and pitfalls
of modern life – credit cards, mortgages, payday lenders and interest
rates, not to mention financial illiteracy – as compelling needs for
the class.
Indeed, says Dane Skelton, volunteer chairman of the local Habitat for
Humanity board of directors and a South Boston minister who sees people
who have fallen prey to all manner of financial traps. Before Habitat
can help a family build a house, the family must demonstrate some
financial responsibility and sometimes, Skelton said, it’s difficult to
find people who qualify.
For example, they have an $8,000 loan for a car worth $2,000; they are
paying too much rental on furniture; they’re locked into a vicious
cycle with a payday lender.
“Sometimes there’s real ignorance,” Skelton said, and the class is “a
wonderful idea in general” but he’s skeptical that it would make much
difference in people’s money habits.
“Financial education has to happen in the home. If it’s not modeled
there I’m not sure how much a class can do,” he lamented.
On top of that reservation, he worries about it clogging up a class
schedule.
“What’s this keeping you from taking?” asked Skelton, who has three
children, only the youngest of whom would be affected by the
requirement. “I’d ten times rather take Latin under Ms. [Judy] Owen.”
The Class of 2012 is now in the eighth grade at Halifax County Middle
School, as is Jessica McGill.
Jessica was vaguely familiar with the plan and conceded that at her
age, she and her friends don’t have much money to practice managing
aside from an allowance, the occasional babysitting gig or odd job.
The class “would be a good idea,” she said. “We do need to know how to
do all that stuff before we get out into the real world.”
The class would cost about $227,400 to fully implement and must also
get approval from the state Board of Education.