Arizona State Treasurer Kimberly Yee appeared at the Hilton Sedona Resort at Bell Rock to speak to the Arizona School Administrators’ fall conference on Monday, Sept. 30.

“We are happy to be here in Sedona. We’ve been traveling all over the state to bring our message of financial literacy to schools and teachers,” Yee said.

Yee served eight years in the Arizona State Legislature, in both the House and Senate before being termed out. Yee was the second woman elected as Senate majority leader in Arizona history, following Sandra Day O’Connor in 1973, who later became a U.S. Supreme Court justice in 1981.

Yee became aware of the need for changes in economic education 12 years ago, when she served on former Arizona State Treasurer Dean Martin’s staff.

“I spoke at a student orientation for freshmen entering college life,” Yee recalled. “As I entered the auditorium I saw a group of credit card companies ready to register hundreds of young students for credit cards. I asked the students ‘How many of you just signed up for your first credit card?’… and dozens of hands went up. Then I asked ‘How many of you have ever taken a financial education class in high school?’ Not one person raised their hand.”

As a legislator, Yee passed laws requiring the state’s academic standards to include financial education.

Once she was elected treasurer in November 2018, she was able to carry Senate Bill 1184 across the finish line, signed into law in April.

In order to graduate, students must pass a course in economics that includes financial literacy and personal finance management.

“This is a critical life skill. Finally, Arizona students will be prepared to manage their money before going out in the world as adults,” Yee said. “They will be taught basic skills on how to go now and balance a checkbook and understanding the consequences of not paying off credit card debt.”

Twenty-nine states had financial literacy legislation in the 2018 session, and 17 states enacted legislation or adopted resolutions.

“Thirty-nine percent of millennial women don’t pay their bills on time and are twice as likely than millennial men to take out a high-interest loan,” Yee said. “A record 7 million Americans are three months behind in their car payments.”

She recently followed up on her promise of appointing a statewide literacy task force, a 16-member board assigned the job of identifying the scope of financial literacy and proposing solutions for improvement.

“This issue is critical to college-age students with student loan debt they carry with them for years,” Yee said. “But it’s also a critical issue for the elderly — widows who find themselves lost when the person who managed all the finances is gone.”

The problem is exacerbated by easier access to spending, such as smart phones that spend on the spot.

“We need to go back to the tradition of spending the cash you have in your pocket,” Yee said with a smile. “When the money is gone, that’s all there is.”

Yee also announced the state will distribute $342 million to K-12 education in Fiscal Year 2019-2020 from the office of the Arizona State Treasurer. The funds come from the Permanent Land Endowment Trust Fund, which invests monies from land sales in Arizona.