State review · Data version 1.0 · October 2026

Texas

K-8 requirement

Texas Education Code 28.0021(a) directs that the state's essential knowledge and skills (TEKS) include personal financial literacy in mathematics instruction in kindergarten through grade eight, and the adopted Chapter 111 mathematics TEKS contain a personal financial literacy strand in each of those grades. Districts must implement the TEKS; the statute does not itself prescribe a separate K-8 course, assessment, or funding.

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 required: K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Standards document: Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Mathematics, 19 TAC Chapter 111, Subchapters A and B (2012 adoption) (2012)
Required by law: Yes
Delivery: Embedded in another subject
Assessed: Not determined
Funded: Not determined

Delivery is within mathematics instruction (TEC 28.0021(a)(1)). Each grade K-8 TEKS in 19 TAC 111.2-111.7 and 111.26-111.28 has a 'Personal financial literacy' student expectation strand; the 2025 middle school advanced mathematics sections (111.29-111.31) also include one. Whether the topic is assessed or separately funded was not verified. The current-effect Chapter 111 documents retrieved are TEA postings of the rule text; a statewide mathematics TEKS review may revise them. Chapter 118 (economics) was not retrieved and is not relied on.

Grades 9-12

Graduation requirement: Yes
Course length: one-half credit personal financial literacy course
Effective date: Students entering grade 9 in 2026-2027 or later (HB 27, 89th Legislature, R.S.)

TEC 28.0021(b) requires districts with a high school program to offer a one-half credit elective course in personal financial literacy. HB 27 (2025) amends TEC 28.025(b-1) so that the foundation program social studies credits include at least one-half credit in personal financial literacy for the 2026-2027 ninth-grade cohort and later; SBOE has proposed new 19 TAC 113.26 to align the course TEKS.

What’s missing for K-8

A K-8 requirement was found (K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8).
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

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

Texas State Board of Education. Tex. Educ. Code 28.0021(a)(1) (as posted by the State Board of Education). Primary source. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
“The Texas essential knowledge and skills and, as applicable, Section 28.025 shall include instruction in personal financial literacy”
Texas State Board of Education. Tex. Educ. Code 28.0021(b). Primary source. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
“shall provide an elective course in personal financial literacy that meets the requirements for a one-half elective credit under Section 28.025”
Texas Education Agency / State Board of Education. 19 TAC 111.1(a) (Mathematics TEKS, Elementary, adopted 2012). Primary source. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
“The provisions of §§111.2-111.7 of this subchapter shall be implemented by school districts.”
Texas Education Agency / State Board of Education. 19 TAC 111.2(b)(9) (Kindergarten); same strand in 111.3-111.7. Primary source. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
“Personal financial literacy. The student applies mathematical process standards to manage one's financial resources effectively for lifetime financial security.”
Texas Education Agency / State Board of Education. 19 TAC 111.28(b)(12)(A) (Grade 8); strand also in 111.26 and 111.27. Primary source. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
“solve real-world problems comparing how interest rate and loan length affect the cost of credit;”
Texas Legislature. H.B. 27, 89th Leg., R.S. (2025), enrolled, sec. 3 (amending Tex. Educ. Code 28.025(b-1)). Primary source. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
“applies only to students entering the ninth grade during the 2026-2027 school year or a later school year.”
Texas Education Agency / State Board of Education. SBOE proposed new 19 TAC 113.26, Personal Financial Literacy (rulemaking, 2026). Primary source. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
“would update the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for the high school personal financial literacy course”

Open items are being reviewed.

Reading is a judgement call on one point: 28.0021(a) says the TEKS 'shall include' K-8 personal financial literacy in mathematics instruction, and 111.1(a) says the elementary sections 'shall be implemented by school districts' (the middle school implementation section 111.25 was not separately excerpted), so status is recorded as k8_requirement with delivery embedded in math. Pending bills: the 89th Legislature (2025) regular and special sessions have ended and the 90th convenes in January 2027; the legislature's bill-lookup pages are disallowed by capitol.texas.gov robots.txt, so no search of prefiled 90th bills was possible and pending_bills is left empty. tea.texas.gov and texreg.sos.state.tx.us were consulted only where robots.txt permitted (TEA's PDFs under /laws-and-rules were fetched). statutes.capitol.texas.gov is a script-rendered site that returned no statute text to a plain fetch, so the SBOE-posted copy of TEC 28.0021 was used. HB 27 enactment date was not read from an official page; the enrolled text was used.

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