State review · Data version 1.0 · October 2026

Kansas

K-8 standards only

Kansas statute directs the State Board of Education to develop personal financial literacy curriculum standards for all grade levels, and the Board adopted national K-12 personal financial education standards in July 2022. Instruction in grades K-8 is not mandated in the texts read; the one-half unit financial literacy graduation requirement applies to high school.

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: National Standards for Personal Financial Education (Council for Economic Education and Jump$tart Coalition), adopted as Kansas financial literacy K-12 standards (2022)
Required by law: No
Delivery: Not stated
Assessed: Yes
Funded: Not determined

K.S.A. 72-3236(c) requires the State Board to develop standards for all grade levels within mathematics or another appropriate subject; (b) says districts 'may use' the Board's curriculum. K.S.A. 72-3236(e) requires financial literacy questions in statewide mathematics or social studies assessments. The KSDE crosswalk (June 1, 2022) has sections for Kindergarten-Grade 4 and Grades 5-8. No text read requires a K-8 course or instruction in a named grade.

Grades 9-12

Graduation requirement: Yes
Course length: One-half unit (KSDE describes a one-semester course)
Effective date: Class of 2028

KSDE says Kansas now requires one-half unit of financial literacy, starting with the Class of 2028 (KSDE page). The Kansas Register item is a notice of hearing on a proposed amendment to K.A.R. 91-31-35; the adopted regulation text was not read.

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

Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes. K.S.A. 72-3236(c). Primary source. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
“develop state curriculum standards for personal financial literacy, for all grade levels, within the existing mathematics curriculum or another appropriate subject-matter curriculum.”
Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes. K.S.A. 72-3236(b). Primary source. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
“curriculum, materials and guidelines that local boards of education and governing authorities of accredited nonpublic schools may use in implementing the program of instruction”
Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes. K.S.A. 72-3236(e). Primary source. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
“The state board of education shall include questions relating to personal financial literacy in the statewide assessments for mathematics or social studies”
Kansas State Department of Education. KSDE Financial Literacy webpage. Primary source. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
“Kansas now requires high school students, starting with the Class of 2028, to complete a one‑semester financial literacy course to graduate.”
Kansas State Department of Education. KSDE Financial Literacy webpage, Standards section. Primary source. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
“Jump$tart Coalition (Adopted by the Kansas Board of Education July 2022)”
Kansas State Department of Education. KSDE Financial Literacy Crosswalk, June 1, 2022. Primary source. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
“were adopted as the Kansas financial literacy K-12 standards”
Kansas Secretary of State (Kansas Register). Kansas Register Vol. 43, Issue 5, Feb. 1, 2024: notice of hearing on a proposed amendment to K.A.R. 91-31-35. Primary source. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
“an added requirement for one-half unit of financial literacy”
Kansas State Department of Education. KSDE Graduation Requirements Fact Sheet, Class of 2028 and beyond. Primary source. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
“One half unit of financial literacy.”

Open items are being reviewed.

Status judged from K.S.A. 72-3236, which directs standards, optional-use curriculum and assessment questions rather than requiring instruction in named grades; confidence medium because the full text of K.A.R. 91-31-35 and the standards' K-8 benchmarks were not read in full (the standards PDF and crosswalk confirm K-4 and 5-8 sections). Third-party sources gave Class of 2027 vs KSDE's Class of 2028; KSDE is followed. Pending bills for the 2025-26 session were not reliably searched, so pending_bills is empty.

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