State review · Data version 2026.10.19.5 · October 2026

Virginia

Requirement before grade 9

The Code of Virginia requires instruction in the principles of the American economic system in public middle schools (defined as grades six through eight) and high schools to promote economics education and financial literacy, with Board of Education objectives required of all students. The Board is not required to assess these objectives in Standards of Learning tests, and the K-5 grades are not addressed in the statute text read.

Statuses come from published law and standards and an automated second check, not a lawyer. Last verified: 2026-10-15. Report a correction

What the law says

Requirement coverage

Earliest grade covered: Grade 6
Grade range: grades 6-12

Describes the instruction requirement found in law, not the standards. It may reach at least one grade before ninth (the earliest grade is shown, and some start only in grade 6 or 7), no grade at all (not specified), or high school only. \u201cOffer courses\u201d means the law says districts must offer the courses or instruction, not that every student must receive it.

Grades K-8

Grades required: 6, 7, 8
Standards document: None found
Required by law: Yes
Delivery: Embedded in another subject
Assessed: No
Funded: Not determined

The statute directs the Board to provide for systematic infusion of economic principles in the relevant Standards of Learning, which indicates embedded rather than stand-alone delivery. Subsection D says the Board is not required to evaluate achievement on these objectives in SOL assessments. The Standards of Learning documents themselves (VDOE, doe.virginia.gov) could not be read, so grade-by-grade K-8 standards content was not verified.

Grades 9-12

Graduation requirement: Yes
Course length: 1 standard unit of credit in Economics and Personal Finance (Standard and Advanced Studies diplomas)
Effective date: Not stated

The graduation tables in 8VAC20-132-51 list Economics and Personal Finance at 1 standard unit for both diploma types. The section is labeled as effective for students entering ninth grade in 2018-2019; later chapter versions were not checked.

What’s missing for K-8

A requirement was found that reaches a grade before ninth (6, 7, 8).
No assessment requirement was identified in the sources reviewed.
Instruction is embedded in another subject rather than a stand-alone course.

Pending bills

No pending bills were identified. This is not an exhaustive legislative search.

How to read the status

Status key

Requirement before grade 9: A statute or rule requires financial education and reaches at least one grade before ninth. Some start only in grade 6 or 7; the earliest grade is shown with the label.
Requirement, grades not specified: A statute or rule says students shall receive financial-literacy instruction but names no grade, so it is not confirmed to reach K-8.
K-8 standards only: State standards name a personal-finance concept at two or more K-8 grade levels, but no requirement to teach it was found.
No K-8 personal-finance standards found: A high school requirement exists, but no requirement for any grade before ninth and no K-8 standards naming a personal-finance concept at two or more grade levels were found. This describes what was found, not proof that none exist.
Study or pilot only: A task force, study, pilot, or unfunded permission exists, without a requirement.
None found: No state-level requirement or standards were found. The searches run are recorded.
Under review: Not yet confirmed. Sources found so far are shown and no status is stated.
Research in progress: This state has not been researched yet.

Sources

Virginia General Assembly (Division of Legislative Automated Systems), Code of Virginia. Va. Code Ann. § 22.1-200.03(A). Primary source. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
“Instruction in the principles of the American economic system shall be required in the public middle and high schools of the Commonwealth”
Virginia General Assembly (Division of Legislative Automated Systems), Code of Virginia. Va. Code Ann. § 22.1-200.03(E). Primary source. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
“"Middle school" includes grades six through eight.”
Virginia General Assembly (Division of Legislative Automated Systems), Code of Virginia. Va. Code Ann. § 22.1-200.03(B). Primary source. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
“objectives for economics education and financial literacy at the middle and high school levels, that shall be required of all students”
Virginia General Assembly (Division of Legislative Automated Systems), Code of Virginia. Va. Code Ann. § 22.1-200.03(D). Primary source. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
“The Board shall not be required to evaluate student achievement concerning economics education and financial literacy objectives in the Standards of Learning assessments”
Virginia General Assembly (Division of Legislative Automated Systems), Virginia Administrative Code; State Board of Education regulation. 8VAC20-132-51 (Virginia Standards of Accreditation, graduation requirements). Primary source. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
“Economics and Personal Finance 1 Electives 4 Total 22 5”

Open items are being reviewed.

VDOE hosts (www.doe.virginia.gov, doe.virginia.gov) returned Access Denied on robots.txt, so the Standards of Learning documents and the Board's adopted economics and financial literacy objectives were not fetched. A web search lead (not fetched, not a source) suggested a 2026 bill, HB462, adding health insurance topics to the middle and high school financial literacy objectives; its status could not be verified on the official LIS site, which is a JavaScript application, so pending_bills is left empty. The reading that the statute's 'principles of the American economic system' instruction plus Board objectives 'required of all students' constitutes a grade 6-8 requirement is the primary text read in full; confidence is medium because the SOL content and any K-5 standards were not read.

Suggested citation
CENTS. Virginia: K-8 financial education. State-by-state review, v2026.10.19.5, October 2026. https://www.centscampaign.org/states/va