State review · Data version 2026.10.19.5 · October 2026

Vermont

K-8 standards only

The Vermont State Board of Education adopted the Jump$tart K-12 personal finance standards in 2018, and supervisory unions must align curriculum with Board-approved standards, but the statutory minimum course of study does not name personal finance. No state rule or statute sets a grade-specific K-8 financial education requirement, and graduation requirements are set locally.

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: No requirement found
Grade range: No requirement found in the text checked

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 where K-8 content was confirmed: None found
Standards document: Jump$tart National Standards in K-12 Personal Finance Education (adopted by the Vermont State Board of Education) (2018)
Required by law: No
Delivery: Embedded in another subject
Assessed: Not determined
Funded: Not determined

Agency of Education testimony says the Board adopted the standards understanding personal finance could be taught within several content areas or a stand-alone class. The standards document itself was not read (education.vermont.gov blocked automated access), so K-8 coverage rests on the K-12 title and the Agency's description.

Grades 9-12

Graduation requirement: No
Course length: Not stated
Effective date: Not stated

Rule 2120.8 leaves graduation requirements to each secondary school board. H.228 (2023-2024), which would have required a semester-long personal finance course for a diploma, was opposed by the Agency of Education; its final status was not confirmed here.

What’s missing for K-8

State standards name personal-finance concepts at two or more K-8 grade levels, but the sources reviewed did not show a requirement to teach them.

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

Vermont General Assembly, Vermont Statutes Online (unofficial copy of the Vermont Statutes Annotated). 16 V.S.A. § 906(a). Primary source. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
“learning experiences shall be provided for students in the minimum course of study.”
Vermont General Assembly, Vermont Statutes Online (unofficial copy of the Vermont Statutes Annotated). 16 V.S.A. § 906(b)(1)-(6). Primary source. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
“(5) the natural sciences; and (6) the fine arts.”
Vermont Agency of Education (testimony hosted by the Vermont General Assembly). Agency of Education testimony to Senate Committee on Education on H.228, April 5, 2023, p. 3 (describing State Board adoption, 2018). Primary source. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
“In 2018, the Vermont State Board of Education adopted the Jump$tart standards”
Vermont Agency of Education (testimony hosted by the Vermont General Assembly). Agency of Education testimony on H.228, April 5, 2023, p. 3 (list of State Board adopted learning standards). Primary source. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
“Jump$tart Standards in K-12 Personal Finance Education”
Vermont Agency of Education (testimony hosted by the Vermont General Assembly). State Board of Education Rule Series 2000 (Education Quality Standards) 2120.5, as quoted in Agency of Education testimony on H.228, p. 2. Primary source. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
“the written and delivered curriculum within their supervisory union is aligned with the standards approved by the State Board of Education”
Vermont Agency of Education (testimony hosted by the Vermont General Assembly). State Board of Education Rule Series 2000 (Education Quality Standards) 2120.8, as quoted in Agency of Education testimony on H.228, p. 5. Primary source. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
“Each secondary school board is responsible for setting graduation requirements in accordance with these rules.”
Vermont Agency of Education (testimony hosted by the Vermont General Assembly). Agency of Education testimony on H.228 (2023-2024 session), p. 1. Primary source. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
“The AOE does not support the proposed bill and a required course in Personal Finance as a graduation requirement.”
Vermont General Assembly. 2025 Acts and Resolves No. 73, Sec. 9(a). Primary source. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
“the Agency of Education shall recommend to the State Board of Education standards for statewide graduation requirements”
Vermont official source (education.vermont.gov). State Board Rule 2120.5(d) (Education Quality Standards). Primary source. Retrieved 2026-10-19.
“global citizenship (including the concepts of civics, economics, geography, world language, cultural studies and history);”

Open items are being reviewed.

Read in full: 16 V.S.A. § 906 (no personal finance field listed in the minimum course of study). Rules 2120.5 and 2120.8 were read only as quoted in Agency testimony, not in the rule text itself. Act 73 (2025) Sec. 9(a) directs a recommendation on statewide graduation requirements; no personal finance text was found in it, and the Agency's resulting recommendation was not read. Pending bills for the 2025-2026 session could not be searched reliably (legislature bill status pages load dynamically and robots.txt disallows some bill paths), so pending_bills is empty.

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