The District of Columbia Public Schools do not require a personal finance course or a course embedded with personal finance for high school graduation. However, in 2024 the DC Office of the State Superintendent of Education developed a new set of personal finance standards aligned to an elective course organized into five sections: earned income, saving and investing, spending, credit and managing risk. There are no personal finance standards for the Grades K-8 Social Studies standards, although the economics standards embedded within do occasionally contain personal finance components.

The high school standards were developed after the Council of the District of Columbia established the District of Columbia Financial Literacy Council through a 2008 act. In the District of Columbia Financial Literacy Council’s 2014 Strategic Recommendations and Financial Literacy Implementation Report, amongst other recommendations, the Council urged “the District of Columbia State Board of Education to adopt a specific set of academic standards for financial literacy education and for the Office of the State Superintendent of Education to ensure the integration of financial literacy education within the city’s public school and public charter school curriculum.” 

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The District of Columbia receives an “F,” as it fails to guarantee financial literacy instruction. The District of Columbia did implement 9-12 personal finance standards, but the elective nature of the course means that this does not impact its grade. In order to improve its grade, the District of Columbia should require the personal finance course for high school graduation and develop standards for grades K-8.