Nonprofit donates $1.4 million for high school financial literacy

California-based nonprofit Next Gen Personal Finance has donated $1.4 million to the California Department of Education for grants to train high school teachers to offer personal finance electives as well as grants for some districts to hire personal finance specialists.

Next Gen Personal Finance offers high school and middle school curriculum on personal finance, as well as professional development courses for teachers.

The donation will pay for professional development workshops to “increase teacher confidence” to teach courses at their high schools on personal finance, according to a Department of Education news release. Teachers will receive stipends for participating in the program, according to the news release.

The donation will also pay for district-matching grants for the five largest public school districts in the state — Los Angeles, San Diego, Fresno, Long Beach and San Francisco — to hire specialists that would provide curriculum support and professional development to teachers on personal finance instruction.

Department of Education officials said Next Gen Personal Finance’s donation supplements the state’s $3.5 billion Arts, Music and Instruction Materials Discretionary Block Grant included in the 2022-23 state budget. That grant is available to county offices of education, school districts, charter schools and state social schools and could be used to expand financial literacy course offerings through the 2025-26 fiscal year.