learnfinancewithNew Mexico
YES - New Mexico flipped from ELECTIVE to REQUIRED, quietly. Beginning with students entering 9th grade in 2025-2026, NMSA 1978 22-13-1.1(O)(4) requires four social science units that must include 'government and economics and personal financial literacy.' For all EARLIER cohorts financial literacy was elective-only ('Financial literacy shall be offered as an elective').
Class of 2029 - the requirement attaches to 'students entering the ninth grade in the 2025-2026 school year' (NMSA 1978 22-13-1.1(O)). Students who entered 9th grade 2009-10 through 2024-25 (roughly classes of 2013-2028) remain under Subsection K, where financial literacy is elective-only. School year 2025-2026 (first 9th-grade cohort under the new framework); the new social science/PFL course is delivered at whatever grade the district schedules government-economics, typically grades 11-12. Those students are SOPHOMORES NOW.
First binds the class of 2029.
- How it may be delivered
- EMBEDDED/INTEGRATED, not standalone: personal financial literacy is named course content inside the required government-and-economics social science course. Two secondary pathways: a financial literacy course may count as one of the four MATH units if it meets state math standards, and financial literacy must also be offered as an ELECTIVE.
- Credit value
- Not yet verified to a primary source — we publish only what we can cite.
- Instructional-hour rule
- Not yet verified to a primary source — we publish only what we can cite.
- Below high school
- No middle- or elementary-school financial literacy course is required for graduation. However 6.29.11 NMAC includes 'economics and personal financial literacy' as ONE OF SIX SOCIAL STUDIES STRANDS with anchor standards and grade-level performance standards in EVERY GRADE K-8 (sections 6.29.11.8 through 6.29.11.16), so PFL content is standards-required at each K-8 grade checkpoint.
- State-mandated assessment
- NONE. NMSA 1978 22-13-1.1 mandates no statewide financial literacy or EOC exam; Subsection N requires only that 'final examinations shall be administered to all students in all classes offered for credit', which is a course-level, LOCALLY administered exam.
- Who may teach it
- No PFL-specific licensure rule found. Because PFL is embedded in the required government/economics social science course, it is taught under a standard NM secondary license (6.61.4 NMAC, grades 7-12), which requires 24-36 semester hours in at least one teaching field (12 upper-division); listed fields include history, geography, economics, and civics and government.
- State course codes
- Not yet verified to a primary source — we publish only what we can cite.
- Standards framework
- Standards for Excellence: Social Studies (New Mexico Social Studies Standards), 6.29.11 NMAC (Effective FEBRUARY 22, 2022)
- Funding a district may cite
- Not yet verified to a primary source — we publish only what we can cite.
- State agency contact
- New Mexico Public Education Department, College and Career Readiness Bureau - graduation requirement questions: grad.questions@ped.nm.gov; PED main line 505-827-5800.
Facts on this page last verified 2026-08-09; every pack is re-verified on a six-month cadence, and anything we cannot cite is marked rather than guessed.
The district awards the credit — no platform can. Ours is designed to align with the state’s learning standards, and it produces the documentation a district needs to award credit: the course object with its federal course code, a pass determination that shows its arithmetic, an hour ledger that counts only observed instructional minutes, and a verified record of demonstrated mastery for every student.