Louisiana · R.S. 17:270 (HB 103)
Louisiana requires a full-year personal finance course to graduate.
Here's the one built as a true year — not a stretched semester.
Your Next Chapter™ · Louisiana Edition is a complete 1.0-credit, two-semester course — 14 units, an applied second semester, and a semester-long money simulation — mapped to LDOE's Financial Literacy course (160345) and built by a CFP®.
Louisiana's law, stated exactly.
Under R.S. 17:270 (as amended by HB 103, 2023), every student must complete a standalone, full-year, one-credit course in personal finance to graduate, beginning with students who entered 9th grade in 2024–25 — the class of 2028. Those students are juniors now, so districts are choosing curriculum this year.
R.S. 17:270 · HB 103 (2023) · LDOE course 160345A full credit means a full course — and it can't be embedded.
Louisiana's requirement is a 1.0 Carnegie unit: a full academic year, not a semester, and it cannot be folded into math, social studies, or another class. It can take the place of a math credit or an elective in the graduation pathway, but the course itself has to be real and standalone. That's a high bar — and it's exactly what this edition was built to clear.
Mapped to LDOE's course description (160345).
Louisiana's Financial Literacy course is defined by the LDOE course description (code 160345), a required-and-suggested topic list. Your Next Chapter™ covers every required topic across its full year — the complete crosswalk is below and in the sample package.
Standards crosswalk
A full-year course mapped to LDOE 160345 — all required topics, across two semesters.
| Unit | LDOE 160345 content area | Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| Semester 1 — Foundations | ||
| 1 | Financial Mindset & Goals | Values, psychology, decision-making |
| 2 | Education, Career & Income | Pathways, paychecks, check stubs, benefits |
| 3 | Taxes — Federal & Louisiana | Federal income tax + LA flat 3% + sales/local |
| 4 | Budgeting & Money Management | Spending, needs/wants, budgeting systems |
| 5 | Banking & Account Management | Account types, balancing, contesting billing |
| 6 | Saving, Interest & Emergency Funds | Savings vehicles, computing interest |
| 7 | Credit, Debt & Loans | Scores, reports, loan applications, contracts |
| Semester 2 — Application & Depth | ||
| 8 | Investing & Wealth Building | Stocks, bonds, funds, diversification, growth |
| 9 | Retirement & Long-Term Planning | 401(k), IRA, time value, employer match |
| 10 | Risk Management & Insurance | Auto 15/30/25 + No Pay No Play, health, renters, life |
| 11 | Consumer Protection & Fraud | Rights, identity theft, scams, cybersecurity |
| 12 | Major Purchases, Aid & Inheritance | Rent vs. buy, student loans, receiving an inheritance |
| 13 | Entrepreneurship & Income Streams | Side income, small-business basics |
| 14 | Capstone + Semester-Long Simulation | Applied plan, budget/life sim, investing challenge |
Covers all required topics in the LDOE Financial Literacy Course Description (160345) across a full 1.0-credit year. Louisiana's framework is a required/suggested topic list rather than numbered competencies, so the mapping is topic-level; the full topic-by-topic crosswalk is included in the sample package.
Built for Louisiana, not relabeled.
This isn't a semester course with padding — it's a full year, built as a full year, with Louisiana's own rules baked in.
The full-year build
A real second semester — the part a supplement doesn't have.
Semester 1 is the proven core: mindset, income, taxes, budgeting, banking, saving, credit. Semester 2 is where a one-credit course earns its credit — investing, retirement, insurance, consumer protection, major purchases and postsecondary financing, and entrepreneurship — all alongside a semester-long money simulation and an investing challenge, closing with an expanded capstone. A free semester supplement can't fill a year. This was designed to.
Semester 1 · Taxes
Louisiana's flat 3% — the cleanest paycheck in the country.
Louisiana moved to a flat 3% income tax with a combined deduction, so students compute a real Louisiana paycheck without wrestling brackets — then compare it to Michigan's 4.25% flat and Wisconsin's graduated scale. The twist they'll remember: Louisiana barely taxes your paycheck but has among the highest combined sales taxes in the nation — so students learn where their state actually taxes them.
Semester 2 · Insurance
15/30/25 — and Louisiana's "No Pay, No Play."
Unit 10 teaches Louisiana's at-fault system and the real 15/30/25 minimums, plus a rule most adults have never heard: under "No Pay, No Play," an uninsured driver forfeits the first $15,000 of injury and $25,000 of property-damage recovery even when the crash isn't their fault. It's the sharpest "why insurance matters" lesson in the catalog — and it's Louisiana law.
Everywhere else
Louisiana-neutral by design — down to the parish.
Career, rent, and cost-of-living work point students at their own parish (Louisiana has 64, not counties) and nearest metro — a student in Orleans Parish and one in Caddo each work with numbers real to them. And a required topic other courses skip — planning for an inheritance — is built into the capstone's life-transitions thread.
Five life-transition tracks — chosen on Day 1.
Students pick one track on Day 1, and it becomes the lens for every decision across the year — career research, budget assumptions, debt choices, and investment projections all reflect their specific path.
College
University or community college: tuition, loans, housing, part-time work.
Career Launch
First full-time job: benefits, first apartment, first car, 401(k) decisions.
Skilled Trades
Apprenticeship: earn while you learn, union benefits, tool costs.
Entrepreneurship
Your own business: variable income, self-employment taxes, startup costs.
Military Service
Enlistment and active duty: base pay and tax-free allowances, the Blended Retirement System, and benefits few 18-year-olds know how to read.
Built by a practitioner, not a curriculum company.
Mark H. Johnson · CFP® · AEP® · CEPA® · CDFA® · BFA™ · JD · MBA
Founder of Reviresco Financial Planning & Wealth Management in Monroe, Michigan, Mark has sat across the table from clients working through every financial mistake this curriculum is designed to prevent. Every unit is built around decisions your graduates will face within five years of graduation — not hypothetical, not textbook. Real.
Proof you can take to your board.
Every licensed district receives structured outcome reports per cohort: a pre/post knowledge assessment (target ≥25-point gain), statement-level verification that all required LDOE 160345 topics were delivered, and capstone proficiency, completion, and teacher-satisfaction rates. At year end you'll have a documented record of what percentage of students completed the course, what percentage produced a proficiency-level financial plan, and how much the average student's financial knowledge grew — the evidence base for renewing the license and reporting to your board.
Louisiana's first affected class graduates in 2028.
Those students are juniors now — districts are choosing curriculum this year.
Request the Louisiana Sample UnitPricing — by scope, not by state
A per-district site license by enrollment, all units and materials included. Choose your course:
Semester course
A half-credit, one-semester course — most states.
| Enrollment | Annual license |
|---|---|
| Up to 150 students | $2,000 |
| 151–500 | $4,500 |
| 501–1,500 | $9,500 |
| 1,501–5,000 | $18,000 |
| 5,001+ / consortium | Custom |
Full-year course
A full-credit, two-semester course — e.g. Louisiana. About 40% more, because it's nearly twice the course.
| Enrollment | Annual license |
|---|---|
| Up to 150 students | $2,800 |
| 151–500 | $6,300 |
| 501–1,500 | $13,300 |
| 1,501–5,000 | $25,200 |
| 5,001+ / consortium | Custom |
Semester course
A half-credit economics course.
| Enrollment | Annual license |
|---|---|
| Up to 150 students | $2,000 |
| 151–500 | $4,500 |
| 501–1,500 | $9,500 |
| 1,501–5,000 | $18,000 |
| 5,001+ / consortium | Custom |
For states that require a separate personal finance course and a separate economics course (e.g. Michigan). Each semester course is 20% off.
| Enrollment | Per course (−20%) | Both, total |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 150 | $1,600 | $3,200 |
| 151–500 | $3,600 | $7,200 |
| 501–1,500 | $7,600 | $15,200 |
| 1,501–5,000 | $14,400 | $28,800 |
| 5,001+ / consortium | Custom | Custom |
Founding-District Offer — Louisiana's class of 2028.
Districts are choosing curriculum for this mandate right now, and we're seeding a small first cohort of Louisiana partners. Sign on in this adoption cycle and take year one at the semester rate, or lock three years at about 20% off the full-year rate — as a founding partner, not a discount. Parish consortiums welcome.
Louisiana's class of 2028 is choosing a full-year course right now.
Let's talk about what this looks like for your district — founding-district terms available for the first Louisiana cohort.