High schools nationwide have their natural prerequisites to graduate: math, science, history and English, but all of these leave gaps for students to participate in extra classes like activities or the arts. However, in the past year, Gretna High School has implemented the required Infotech and Personal Finance courses for students graduating in 2028 and beyond. This requirement can prevent students from participating in more than one in-school extracurricular at a time.
The Financial Literacy Act, signed May 26, 2021, and Computer Science & Technology Act, signed Aug. 19, 2024, were implemented by the state of Nebraska to require both a financial literacy and computer science/information technology class for students graduating after 2026.
“The goal of Information Technology is to expose students to the Microsoft platform, which is commonly used in the business world. So we teach those technology skills, but I think bigger picture, we teach kids to be resourceful and go out and find information on how to do things online,” said Jeanette Kleppinger, an information technology and personal finance teacher. “Personal finance is all about financial literacy, so teaching kids how to manage their money through budgeting, insurance, credit and paying for college.”
This pre-requisite change means that all current sophomores and freshmen have to take two extra semester classes to fulfill their graduation requirements. This can be frustrating for students who are involved in class and activities like art, band, show choir and others.
“I do not believe we should take personal finance or info tech. I haven’t been able to have as many art classes as I want,” sophomore Macy Cox said. “There are valuable things taught in personal finance. However, in the world we live in, I could ask a simple investing question to ChatGPT.”
From a business teacher’s perspective, personal finance is important for everyone.
“I think personal finance teaches life skills. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t use it in my personal life. Access my checking account, make financial decisions with my investments, decide if I’m going to make that purchase or not or think about what happens if I get in a car accident,” Kleppinger said.
Ian S Wasalaski • Mar 4, 2025 at 10:22 am
These laws introduced to Nebraska are a good for nebraska. I can say that they in fact take away from some stuff, but we as a school should try our best to give more time to do classes we want.