Financial Education Public-Private Partnership. 
In 2015 the Legislature established the Financial Education Public-Private Partnership (FEPPP).  The FEPPP is comprised of members of the Legislature, representatives from the private for-profit and nonprofit financial services sector, the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions, the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the State Treasurer, and teachers.

The FEPPP has a variety of responsibilities, including, among others:

• seeking out and determining the best methods of equipping students with the knowledge and skills they need to make critical decisions regarding their personal finances;
• developing and communicating financial education standards to school districts;
• reviewing financial education curriculum; and 
• monitoring, creating, and providing guidance for professional development (PD) for educators.

Financial Literacy Education Professional Development Grant Program.  
In 2022 the Legislature directed the FEPPP to establish a grant program for integrating financial literacy education into PD for certificated staff, subject to appropriation.

For a school district to qualify for a grant, the grant proposal must provide that the grantee integrate financial literacy education into at least seven hours of its current in-person PD schedule over the course of the entire school year for which the district receives the grant.  Grants must be allocated at $7.50 per enrolled student and must be made available for the 2023-24, 2024-25, and 2025-26 school years.  A school district that receives a grant for one school year is prohibited from receiving a grant in subsequent grant cycles. 

Additional activities permitted for the use of the grants include, but are not limited to: 

• coordinating teachers from across a school district to develop new instructional strategies and to share successful strategies;
• sharing successful practices across a group of school districts; and
• facilitating coordination between Educational Service Districts and school districts to provide training.

A school district may apply for and receive financial literacy education professional development grants for each of the three school years in which the grants are available.  The total amount of funds that a school district receives over the three years may not exceed $7.50 per enrolled student in the school district.  School districts that currently integrate financial literacy education into professional development may qualify for the Financial Literacy Professional Development Grant Program if the professional development has been approved by the Financial Education Public-Private Partnership.

(In support) Second Substitute Senate Bill 5720 passed during the 2022 legislative session, which required the Financial Education Public-Private Partnership (FEPPP) to establish a grant program for integrating financial literacy education into professional development for certificated staff.  The legislation also states that a school district that receives the grant for one school year is prohibited from receiving a grant in subsequent grant cycles.  As FEPPP has gone through the grant development process, there have been districts that expressed interest in expanding financial education professional development over more than one year.  House Bill 1714 would permit the FEPPP to allow districts to apply for the financial education grants for one, two, or three years.  This would not change the total amount that a district is allowed to receive over the three-year grant program.

(Opposed) None.