LANSING — The Michigan House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill that would allow high schoolers to take a personal economics class as a part of their high school graduation requirements.
It was the first bill to pass the house proposed by Rep. James Tedder, R-Clakston, who was sworn into office in January.
Tedder said Tuesday many schools offer personal economics classes but as electives that don’t count toward graduation. Students then don’t take those classes in order to focus on classes that will help them graduate.
Tedder said he hoped allowing personal economics classes to count toward graduation would mean more students would take those classes.
“As a former educator, one of the things that frustrated me was many students, regardless of their aptitude in other subjects, were financially illiterate,” Tedder said. “And, that’s really a depressing fact as we put these young folks into the work force or onto college.”