Class requirements for Haven students are spelled out each year in the Silver Guide, usually consisting of the same specific English, math, science, social studies, and language courses. However, in the 2026-2027 Silver guide, the district added one more requirement: financial literacy.
Back in 2023, the Pennsylvania Senate passed legislation that requires the Class of 2030 and beyond to take a personal finance course. As the next school year approaches and the Class of 2030 is set to begin high school, the district prepares for this new requirement.
Unlike most class requirements, financial literacy can be taken at any time between freshman and senior year. Although there are arguments for only allowing older students to take the course, the district ultimately decided to leave it open for all high schoolers.
“There’s some debate on this that, when kids are older, maybe even if they’ve had a part-time job or they have a better sense of expenses, that it’s more relevant to them,” principal Mr. Andrew Benzing said. “But that said, we’ve got plenty of freshmen who’d taken [the class] have a good experience too.”
Financial literacy is an introductory course on personal finance, covering topics such as careers, interviews, taxes, budgeting, paychecks, savings accounts, credit cards, buying a house, and more. The class is taught by business teacher Ms. Gianna Harris, who wants her students to learn valuable financial and occupational skills that they can use in their future.
“I want everyone to learn, and I want everyone to feel comfortable as they enter the adult world, and even just after leaving high school,” Harris said. “Everyone knows their path when they graduate fifth grade, when they graduate eighth grade, but when you graduate high school, everyone’s going somewhere different. So we want this class to make everyone feel comfortable, no matter what path they take after high school.”
Senior Maddie Posternack took the class in the spring semester of her junior year. She believes that the class is necessary due to its real-world applications.
“I would come home, and it was tax season, and we were learning about taxes. So when my parents would do something, I would know what they were talking about,” Posternack said.
The class utilizes realistic projects and assignments to replicate real scenarios.
“We did a huge budgeting project that really helped everyone learn how to save their money and learn where to put their money towards, and how to be responsible,” junior Georgia Graham, a past financial literacy student, said.
Even if you are not in the Class of 2030 and beyond, Harris believes that you should still consider taking the course or any other business course.
“I always encourage anyone to take financial literacy and any other business courses at all,” Harris said. “They’re all a lot of fun, and you learn a lot.”
The official state requirement says that students must complete a half-credit course in personal finance at a minimum. Currently, the course is being offered at one credit, which is typical for Haven’s one-semester classes.
However, there is discussion among administration, teachers, and department chairs about potentially offering this class and other courses at half-credit.
“Teachers were charged to start thinking about either, A, courses they currently offer that might be better fit as a half credit option, or B, courses they always wanted to offer that didn’t fit in the full semester or wouldn’t have enough interest that we could couple with personal financial literacy, so a student doesn’t have to give up a whole elective,” Benzing said. “They take personal financial aid and pair it with something else that would be of interest to them.”
The district wants students to still have the option to choose the elective they want. Benzing hopes that more half-credit courses will continue Haven’s elective choices while satisfying the state requirement for financial literacy.
New half-credit courses will not be offered next school year, but potentially might be available to students in the 2027-2028 school year. The half-credit courses would still be the same 80-minute length as a normal class, but would only occupy part of the semester instead of the whole semester.
There is also some discussion of allowing students to take the course online so that their elective space is not being limited by the requirement, according to Benzing.
“We want to try to give the kids as much flexibility as possible,” he said.
