Teachers who attend a July 8 financial literacy summit at East Tennessee State University will each receive a $50 gift card from Amazon. However, summit participants will also be getting something far more valuable: financial literacy lessons that they can teach to their students and apply to their own lives.
The free summit is being sponsored by the Tennessee Financial Literacy Commission, which is administered by the Tennessee Treasury Department.
The commission is emphasizing the teaching of financial literacy skills to students at young ages so they will develop and follow good habits later in life. The summit will also stress the importance of reaching out to students’ parents so they, too, will develop good financial literacy skills and recognize the need to save for their children’s college education.
Participating teachers will each receive a free financial literacy curriculum packet, valued at $65. Teachers who attend the summit may be eligible for professional education credits, if permitted by their school districts.
There will also be time at the summit for teachers to direct questions about their own retirement planning to representatives from the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System, which is also part of the Tennessee Treasury Department.
“I encourage teachers in upper East Tennessee to attend this summit,” Treasurer David H. Lillard, Jr. said. “Research suggests that children’s minds are receptive to learning about financial literacy while they are very young. When they are learning about financial literacy in school, it may also help remind their parents about the importance of developing and practicing those skills. And the summit will also provide information teachers can use in their own lives.”
The summit will last from 8:30 a.m. until 2 p.m., local time. To register online, teachers can visit www.tnflc.com. For questions, they may contact James Armistead at 615/532-5892 or by e-mail at James.Armistead@tn.gov.
The Tennessee Financial Literacy Commission is a nonprofit organization created by the Tennessee General Assembly in 2010. Treasurer Lillard chairs the commission’s board. Other members include commissioners of the state departments of financial institutions and education, as well as six other Tennesseans selected to serve.
This is the latest in a series of summits that are being held in communities across the state.