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For California Schools

AB 2927, mapped module by module.

AB 2927 makes personal finance a one-semester course that every California high school must offer starting in the 2027–28 school year, and a graduation requirement beginning with the class of 2031. The law spells out the topics the course must cover in Education Code Section 51284.5(a).

Below is where each required topic lives in The Launchpad, our free classroom curriculum, so your department can evaluate coverage against the statute itself rather than a brochure.

2027–28
Every CA high school must offer the one-semester course
Class of 2031
First class required to pass it to graduate

The thirteen required topics

Topic language is condensed from the statute; each row cites its subdivision of Section 51284.5(a) so you can check our summary against the full text.

1
Fundamentals of banking: savings, checking, and managing to minimize fees § 51284.5(a)(1)
Banking & Saving: Where Does Money Live? · Your Banking Blueprint · Save Smarter
2
Principles of budgeting for independent living § 51284.5(a)(2)
Banking & Saving: Build a Budget That Runs Itself
The College Project: Real Costs
3
Employment and the factors that affect net income § 51284.5(a)(3)
Banking & Saving: Your First Paycheck
Taxes: How Taxes Work
4
Uses and effects of credit, including credit scores and the relation of debt and interest to credit § 51284.5(a)(4)
Credit & Debt: The Terms Decide · Your Score, Your Future · Credit Cards 101 · The Full Picture
5
Uses and costs of loans, including student loans and loan forgiveness policies § 51284.5(a)(5)
Credit & Debt: Borrowing for College · The Car Decision · The Biggest Loan You’ll Ever Take
The College Project: Aid Plan
6
Types and costs of insurance, including home, auto, health, and life § 51284.5(a)(6)
Insurance: What Is Insurance? · Health Insurance · The HSA Advantage · Your Other Insurance · Fight Your Bill
7
Impacts of the tax system: personal income, filing, and reading tax forms and pay stubs § 51284.5(a)(7)
Taxes: How Taxes Work · File Your Taxes (a guided filing simulation) · Tax Next Steps
Banking & Saving: Your First Paycheck
8
Principles of investing and building wealth: 401(k) plans, IRAs, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and index funds § 51284.5(a)(8)
Investing: Why Invest? · Know Yourself · The Long Game · Accounts and Assets · Your First Move · Money in Motion
9
Consumer protection: common scams and frauds, and preventing identity theft § 51284.5(a)(9)
Credit & Debt: When Debt Is a Trap · Protect What You’ve Built
Insurance: Fight Your Bill
10
Financing college, workforce education, low-cost community college options, and CTE pathways or apprenticeships § 51284.5(a)(10)
The College Project: All nine modules, from All Paths Have Costs through Launch, including Cal Grant and CADAA
11
How psychology can impact financial well-being § 51284.5(a)(11)
Investing: Know Yourself
Wrapping Up (capstone): The Big Things, where students write their own financial philosophy
12
Charitable giving § 51284.5(a)(12)
Wrapping Up (capstone): More or Less?, a dedicated Real Take: giving trends over time, who gives and what share of their income, and the math of donating appreciated stock
Taxes: Donations in the deductions walkthrough of How Taxes Work
13
Other topics directly and specifically relevant to personal finance § 51284.5(a)(13)
Credit & Debt: The Invisible Hand, on the Federal Reserve and why every rate changes
Wrapping Up (capstone): Cross-unit synthesis of every decision students practiced

How to use this page

There is no state-approved vendor list for AB 2927; choosing course materials is a local decision. This page exists to make that evaluation fast. Send it to your department chair or district curriculum lead, open the statute next to it, and check our work.

The Launchpad is free for every teacher and student, built and taught daily by a working California classroom teacher. You can preview the full teacher experience with no signup and no email.

Preview the teacher demoAccess The Launchpad

Full statutory text: California Education Code § 51284.5. Questions about alignment or district evaluation? Write to team@thefinancelab.co.