Financial literacy instruction equips Iowa’s students for lifelong success

As Iowa prepares all students to reach their full potential, part of that preparation is providing students with the tools to navigate the complex world of personal finance and make informed decisions that will impact their lives for years to come.

Financial Literacy Month, celebrated in April, highlights the need for students to gain those tools and the ability to make sound financial decisions. In Iowa, school districts are required to offer a one-half-unit personal financial literacy course. This course can be taught as a separate class or incorporated into existing classes through specific units, depending on the district's approach.

“Empowering students with K-12 financial literacy education equips them with the knowledge, skills, and essential tools to navigate their future confidently,” said Stefanie Rosenberg Wager,  Iowa Department of Education administrative consultant.

In the Montezuma Community School District, business teacher Kevin Gartman aims to equip students with those tools to build a sound financial future. A 2025 Iowa Regional Teacher of the Year representing the Central Rivers Region, Gartman has crafted a rigorous and diverse series of financial literacy courses beginning in eighth grade.

“Everybody understands the importance of a personal financial literacy course. No matter what you do, you’re going to need this information,” Gartman said. “Everyone is going to need to know how to budget, how to save, how to invest, how to do taxes and those sorts of things.”

That importance is magnified in many Iowa communities, like Montezuma, where students come from a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds and families with varying degrees of financial literacy and exposure to modern financial tools and assets. While some of Gartman’s students come from families with strong financial backgrounds where there are regular conversations about money and personal finance, many also come from families with fewer financial resources, where those discussions may not occur at home.

Teaching financial literacy is a critical way to close the knowledge gap between students from different socioeconomic backgrounds and empower them to achieve financial stability.

Like many financial literacy educators, Gartman strives to move lessons beyond the textbook, making salient, real-world connections for his students. He also examines the psychology and behavioral economics behind financial decisions, especially as many students are getting their first jobs and earning money for the first time.

“We always start off talking about why we think the way we do about money,” Gartman said. “Why will we walk five minutes to save $10 on a $20 phone case, but won’t walk five minutes to save $10 on that $1,000 phone? Why does our brain think about that same $10 differently?”

Using behavioral economics as a foundation, Gartman dives into nearly every aspect of personal finance across the 10 major units he covers, from banking and loans to credit, insurance, investing, taxes and more. With the explosion of financial advice on social media and get-rich-quick schemes from influencers in recent years, Gartman has adapted his courses to teach students how to analyze such content critically and through a responsible financial lens. Additionally, his lessons on budgeting address navigating interpersonal budgeting discussions that students may soon face with roommates, friends and partners.

“We talk through budgeting and put them through a lot of life simulation things, budgeting with roommates and talking about budgeting in relationships,” Gartman said. “We try to make it fun through a lot of real-world cases, simulations, competitions, things like that. These activities give students a big picture way to break these things down and really analyze situations, which
I think it helps them a lot.”

Simulations and competitions are a significant component of Gartman’s curriculum, which helps engage and inspire students. His teams have competed in the National Personal Finance Challenge, won the state competition twice in the last three years and advanced to nationals, finishing fifth two years in a row. At the most recent competition earlier this month, Montezuma again took top honors and advanced to the national competition in Atlanta, Ga., next month.

“The community sees that and gets behind it,” Gartman said. “We’ve had community members ask how we can expand these classes to the community and provide them to parents so they can learn the concepts they need to talk to their children about.”

While he brainstorms the logistics of potentially expanding his coursework beyond the school, he has equipped and empowered his high school students to visit elementary school classrooms during Financial Literacy Month and to do a week of lessons using resources provided by Iowa Jump Start to begin discussions about sound financial practices at a younger age.

By making financial literacy a standard part of the curriculum at every age, Gartman believes schools and communities can equip students and their families with skills that will be applied and benefit them for a lifetime.

“You have those moments when students who you’ve taught about building smart financial habits and doing those little things that will set you up on a bigger scale reach out years later,” Gartman said. “It shows that they remember and they were listening and now doing the right things to set themselves up 40 years down the line. Those stories and experiences make a difference and remind you why you do what you do and why financial literacy is crucial.”

More information on financial literacy instruction in Iowa and comprehensive financial literacy resources are available on the Department’s website.