Maine Personal Finance Standards & Graduation Requirements
Maine requires personal finance for graduation as a mandatory topic inside the 2-year social studies and history requirement, not as a standalone course.
Maine at a glance
- Requirement
- Required, embedded in another course
- Legislation or authority
- 20-A MRSA §4722, as amended by P.L. 2013, c. 244 (LD 843, 'An Act to Promote the Financial Literacy of High School Students')
- Passed
- P.L. 2013, c. 244 enacted 2013 (LD 843, 126th Legislature)
- Takes effect
- Already in effect; the Personal Finance & Economics strand of the Maine Learning Results was last revised in 2019
- Course length
- Personal finance embedded within the required 2 years of social studies and history; no separate credit minimum for personal finance alone
- State standards
- Maine Learning Results for Social Studies — Personal Finance & Economics strand (Revised 2019)
What Maine requires
Maine's minimum diploma standards under 20-A MRSA §4722 require 2 years of social studies and history that must include personal finance, alongside American history, government, and civics. Districts may add requirements above this floor but cannot go below it, and may satisfy the standard via course credit or the equivalent in standards achievement; the state does not require a dedicated standalone course or specify a separate credit amount for personal finance.
The Maine Department of Education operationalizes the requirement through a dedicated Personal Finance & Economics strand within the 2019 Maine Learning Results for Social Studies. Legislative efforts in 2023-2024 and 2025-2026 to convert this into a true standalone-course mandate were each amended down to study resolves rather than enacted mandates, so the embedded requirement remains the law in force.
Last reviewed against official sources on 2026-07-15.
How Rapunzl maps to Maine standards
Rapunzl's curriculum is built on the Council for Economic Education's six pillars. Here is how they line up with the Maine framework.
| Maine strand | CEE pillar | Rapunzl modules |
|---|---|---|
| Personal finance: saving and managing money | Saving | Saving Versus InvestingThe Basics Of Banking |
| Investing | Investing | Welcome To The Stock MarketWhat Makes A Good Stock?ETFs & Mutual Funds |
| Consumer credit | Managing Credit | The Power & Risks Of CreditHow To Make Loans Work For You |
| Money and risk management | Managing Risk | Diversification & RiskInsurance & Retirement |
| Financial institutions, markets, and government policy | Economics | The Economy & Federal ReserveReading Company Financials |
Educators can request a full Maine standards crosswalk through the Educator Dashboard.
Standards alignment details: how Rapunzl covers Maine's personal finance standards
A standard-by-standard look at the Maine framework. 7 standards are covered across 9 Rapunzl modules; each links to its lesson so you can preview exactly what students learn.
Personal Finance (6-8th Grade)
| Maine standard | Aligned Rapunzl modules |
|---|---|
| Explaining how scarcity influences choices and relates to the market economy | The Economy & Federal Reserve |
| Identifying factors that contribute to spending and saving decisions | Saving Versus InvestingTaxes & IncomePaying For College |
| Using a process of market spending and savings decisions based on work, wages, income, expenses, and budgets as they relate to the study of individual financial choices | Saving Versus InvestingPaying For College |
Personal Finance (9-12th Grade)
| Maine standard | Aligned Rapunzl modules |
|---|---|
| Explaining how personal finace involves the use of economics as the basis for saving, investing, and managing money | Welcome To The Stock MarketSaving Versus InvestingThe Economy & Federal Reserve |
| Identifying factors that impact consumer credit | The Power & Risks Of Credit |
| Evaluating ways credit can be used | The Power & Risks Of CreditHow To Make Loans Work For You |
| Evaluatings different strategies for money and risk management | Welcome To The Stock MarketSaving Versus InvestingThe Power & Risks Of CreditDiversification & RiskThe Basics Of Banking |
Standards alignment for Maine is provided for planning and is updated annually. Educators can request a formatted Maine standards crosswalk through the Educator Dashboard.
Why Maine schools choose Rapunzl
Maine treats personal finance as a required topic inside its two years of social studies and history, not as a course of its own, under a 2013 law and the Personal Finance and Economics strand of the Maine Learning Results. Because it is woven into other coursework, the content has to travel well, and Rapunzl's modules do: they slot into a social studies or economics class a few at a time. Students learn by managing a $10,000 portfolio in a live-market simulator rather than reading a chapter, and the sequence flexes from a short unit to a semester. Efforts to turn this into a standalone-course mandate have stalled, so the embedded model is what districts work with today.
- 100,000+students have completed Rapunzl's curriculum
- 93%average financial literacy scores on national test over past 5 years, 24% above average
- 31interactive modules that can be customized into a course progression for your classroom
- 20+hours of gameplay in 2 interactive mini-games alongside our investment simulator and financial calculators
Teachers get a dashboard that exports grades and crosswalks each lesson to Maine's Personal Finance and Economics strand, with materials in English and Spanish that work with a screen reader. Rapunzl's January scholarship competition gives students a reason to keep managing their portfolio wherever the content lives on the schedule.
Maine personal finance requirement FAQ
Maine requires personal finance for graduation as a mandatory topic inside the 2-year social studies and history requirement, not as a standalone course.
The requirement is set by 20-A MRSA §4722, as amended by P.L. 2013, c. 244 (LD 843, 'An Act to Promote the Financial Literacy of High School Students').
Takes effect: Already in effect; the Personal Finance & Economics strand of the Maine Learning Results was last revised in 2019.
Personal finance embedded within the required 2 years of social studies and history; no separate credit minimum for personal finance alone.
Maine's requirement is an embedded requirement.
In practice that means the personal finance content lives inside another required course, so every graduate covers it without a separate class on their schedule.
Maine Learning Results for Social Studies — Personal Finance & Economics strand (Revised 2019).
Rapunzl is built on the Council for Economic Education's six pillars: earning income, spending, saving, investing, managing credit, and managing risk. Maine's Personal Finance and Economics strand covers the same topics, so the crosswalk above ties each to the modules that teach it.
Yes. Because Maine embeds personal finance in social studies and history, Rapunzl's modules can slot into an existing course, and each still maps to a strand of the Maine Learning Results.
Students learn by trading a simulated $10,000 in real market conditions, and teachers track progress from a dashboard with grade export, bilingual materials, and screen-reader support.
Ask for a demo and we'll send the Maine crosswalk along with classroom access so you can see how it fits your social studies sequence.
Bring Rapunzl to your Maine classroom
Explore the curriculum and real-time simulator free for 30 days. Tell us about your school and we'll send your all-access demo along with the Maine standards crosswalk.
Request DemoPersonal finance requirements in other states
- Alabama Standards
- Alaska Standards
- Arizona Standards
- Arkansas Standards
- California Standards
- Colorado Standards
- Connecticut Standards
- Delaware Standards
- Florida Standards
- Georgia Standards
- Hawaii Standards
- Idaho Standards
- Illinois Standards
- Indiana Standards
- Iowa Standards
- Kansas Standards
- Kentucky Standards
- Louisiana Standards
- Maryland Standards
- Massachusetts Standards
- Michigan Standards
- Minnesota Standards
- Mississippi Standards
- Missouri Standards
- Montana Standards
- Nebraska Standards
- Nevada Standards
- New Jersey Standards
- New Mexico Standards
- New York Standards
- North Carolina Standards
- North Dakota Standards
- Ohio Standards
- Oklahoma Standards
- Oregon Standards
- Pennsylvania Standards
- Rhode Island Standards
- South Carolina Standards
- South Dakota Standards
- Tennessee Standards
- Texas Standards
- Utah Standards
- Vermont Standards
- Virginia Standards
- Washington Standards
- West Virginia Standards
- Wisconsin Standards
