State review · Data version 1.0 · October 2026

Delaware

K-8 standards only

Delaware's State Board of Education approved K-12 Financial Literacy Content Standards (clusters K-3, 4-5, 6-8, 9-12), which state regulation adopts as the basis for local curriculum from 2018-19. State law requires a half-credit financial literacy course for a high school diploma starting with students entering grade 9 in 2026-27, and no text found requires a specific K-8 course or grade.

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

Grades K-8

Grades where K-8 content was confirmed: None found
Standards document: Delaware K-12 Financial Literacy Standards (State Board approved January 2018) (2018)
Required by law: No
Delivery: Not stated
Assessed: Not determined
Funded: Not determined

Standards exist for K-3, 4-5 and 6-8 clusters. Regulation 501 (as amended in 2018, read in the Register notice) adopts them as the basis for curriculum, with local curricula to align on a Department timeline; it does not name a grade or course in which financial literacy must be taught. The 2026 Department report (HR 31) describes standards implementation as local curricula aligned to the standards and mentions K-8 scope and sequence resources. The current codified text of 14 DE Admin. Code 501 on regulations.delaware.gov (a script-rendered site) was not read; the 2018 Register notice was used instead.

Grades 9-12

Graduation requirement: Yes
Course length: 1/2 credit in financial literacy, as part of social studies or elective credits
Effective date: Students entering grade 9 in the 2026-2027 school year

14 Del. C. 4152 (added by 85 Del. Laws c. 224, signed September 19, 2025) requires school districts and charter schools serving high school students to provide the course; the Session Law text also says the half credit must align to the current Financial Literacy Standards.

What’s missing for K-8

State standards include personal finance in K-8, but the sources reviewed did not show a requirement to teach it.

Pending bills

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

How to read the status

Status key

K-8 requirement: A statute or rule requires financial education in at least one grade from K to 8.
K-8 standards only: State standards or frameworks include personal finance in K-8, but no mandate to teach it was found.
High school only: A requirement or graduation course exists only in grades 9-12. No K-8 requirement was found.
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

Delaware General Assembly, Delaware Code Online. 14 Del. C. 4152(b). Primary source. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
“A school district or charter school serving high school students shall provide, at a minimum, a ½ credit on financial literacy.”
Delaware General Assembly, Delaware Code Online. 14 Del. C. 4152(c). Primary source. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
“Beginning with students entering grade 9 in the 2026 through 2027 school year, students must successfully complete a ½ credit in financial literacy”
Delaware General Assembly, Laws of Delaware. 85 Del. Laws c. 224 (153rd G.A., formerly HS 1 for HB 203 as amended by SA 1), adding 14 Del. C. section 4150 as enacted (codified as 4152(f) per session law numbering). Primary source. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
“The ½ credit must be aligned to the current Financial Literacy Standards.”
Delaware Department of Education / State Board of Education (Delaware Register of Regulations archive). 14 DE Admin. Code 501, section 1.1.1.3 (final order, 21 DE Reg. 625, Feb. 1, 2018). Primary source. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
“Effective with the 2018-19 school year, the Financial Literacy Content Standards shall be adopted.”
Delaware Department of Education / State Board of Education (Delaware Register of Regulations archive). 21 DE Reg. 625 (Feb. 1, 2018), summary of evidence, amending 14 DE Admin. Code 501. Primary source. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
“Any financial literacy curriculum used by the districts and charter schools would need to be aligned to these new standards”
Delaware Department of Education. Delaware K-12 Financial Literacy Standards (Jan. 2018), Standard Two, grade cluster 6-8. Primary source. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
“6-8: Students will establish a budget and compare various payment methods that can be used to buy goods and services.”
Delaware Department of Education. Delaware K-12 Financial Literacy Standards (Jan. 2018), Standard Two, grade cluster K-3. Primary source. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
“K-3: Students will examine how planning for spending can help individuals and households make informed choices.”
Delaware Department of Education. Delaware Department of Education, HR 31 Financial Literacy Curriculum Alignment Study report (2026). Primary source. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
“In January 2018, the Delaware State Board of Education approved Financial Literacy Standards for grades K-12.”

Open items are being reviewed.

Classified by the K-8 question: standards for K-3, 4-5 and 6-8 exist and are adopted by regulation as the basis for local curriculum, but no statute or rule read names a K-8 grade or course where financial literacy must be taught, so k8_standards_only; confidence is medium because the current codified Regulation 501 text was not read (only the 2018 Register final order) and whether the alignment duty amounts to a K-8 mandate is a judgement call. Pending bills: HB 203 was enacted (signed 9/19/25); a web search found no 2025-26 bill on K-8 financial literacy, but the legislature's bill search was not queried directly, so pending_bills is left empty. education.delaware.gov legacy standards page returned a Cloudflare challenge and was not retried; the standards PDF and HR 31 report on the same host were fetched (robots.txt allows, crawl delay 10 seconds observed). doe.k12.de.us was not used (Cloudflare redirect on robots.txt). The code section is numbered 4152 in the Delaware Code Online, while the session law text numbers it 4150.

Suggested citation
CENTS. Delaware: K-8 financial education. State-by-state review, v1.0, October 2026. https://centscampaign.org/states/de