Wichita ? Wichita school officials want their students to be better prepared to handle their personal finances after graduation.

The Wichita Eagle reported that district officials hope to present school board members with a proposal next month that would increase the graduation requirements from 22 to 23 credits.

Starting with the current sophomore class, students would be required to take one semester of financial literacy and a semester of career or technical education.

“Our job is to prepare students for the real world,” said Denise Wren, assistant superintendent for high schools.

“They need to know what to do when they’re bombarded with all these credit card offers, how to budget, how to manage finances,” she said. “Used to be, they didn’t really think about it until they left (high school)…. I think everyone agrees we need to reach them earlier.”

The credit increase would be the first in the district since 1984, when its board boosted the minimum number required to graduate from 20 to 22. Those changes, which took effect with the graduating class of 1988, required students to take one more credit each in math, science and social studies. But the physical education requirement dropped from two to one.

Jim Means, executive director of career and technical education, said the push to make financial literacy a required class reflects a push to battle against some recent economic problems.

“The things we’ve seen lately — the payday loans, the mortgages, the whole recession — just tells you again and again how important it is for students to have this foundation of knowledge,” Means said.

This year, four Wichita high schools are testing a financial-literacy course that was developed by a committee of teachers and local businesspeople. The participants include 18-year-old Jordan Snide, who had never written a check or balanced her account before the class.

“I had like $12, and I thought I had 100-something,” she said. “I’ve always been horrible with finances, so I’ve learned a lot.”

Financial literacy is supposed to be mixed into the curriculum and taught at every grade level under a Kansas law passed in 2002. However, most teachers reported they don’t teach the topic in a 2008 survey by the state Department of Education.

The Legislature considered a proposal last year to make financial literacy a graduation requirement, but budget concerns contributed to the measure stalling.

“What we’re doing in Wichita may be an impetus to get that going (statewide),” Means said. “We’re getting a lot of support from the business community here and across the state.”