Federal Financial Literacy Reform: Coordinating and Improving Financial Literacy Efforts
Author: US Department of the Treasury
Date: 2019-07-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Money Management,Federal Government,Literacy,Federal Programs,Program Effectiveness,Accountability,Resource Allocation,Public Agencies,Decision Making,Governance,Credit (Finance),Retirement,Investment,Housing,Budgets,Best Practices,Information Technology,Teaching Methods,Futures (of Society)

The federal government spends an estimated $273 million annually on financial literacy1 and education programs and activities across 23 federal agencies and entities. These programs are designed to educate Americans about a wide array of financial literacy and education topics. However, in 2012, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report (GAO Report) that found that federal financial literacy efforts lacked meaningful coordination with multiple programs with similar goals and activities. Furthermore, very few federal agencies appear to monitor the effectiveness of their programs and only a handful of these programs have been formally assessed or evaluated for impact. The Department of the Treasury (Treasury) prepared this report, in part in response to the June 2018 plan by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to reform and reorganize the executive branch entitled &quot;Delivering Government Solutions in the 21st Century&quot; (OMB report). The OMB report included a proposal requesting that Treasury develop recommendations for consolidating and streamlining federal financial literacy and education activities (OMB Proposal). The OMB Proposal was part of a comprehensive plan for reorganizing the executive branch set forth by President Donald J. Trump in Executive Order 13781 on March 13, 2017. The President's Executive Order outlined his vision for improving the &quot;efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability of the executive branch&quot; by directing the Director of the OMB to &quot;propose a plan to reorganize governmental functions and eliminate unnecessary agencies… components of agencies, and agency programs.&quot; The recommendations in this report are also in response to the GAO Report, which recommended that Treasury identify options to consolidate federal financial literacy efforts and address an appropriate allocation of resources among programs and agencies. Concurrently with the OMB report, Secretary Mnuchin asked the Treasurer of the United States to review the work of the the Financial Literacy and Education Commission (FLEC)--established by law in 2003 to coordinate the federal government's financial literacy efforts. Additionally, the Treasury was asked to make recommendations for aligning the FLEC's mission and activities with the core principles set forth by the President in Executive Order 13772, including to &quot;empower Americans to make independent financial decisions and informed choices in the marketplace, save for retirement, and build individual wealth&quot; (First Core Principle). This report provides Treasury's proposed recommendations to better align the FLEC's work with the President's core principles while streamlining and strengthening the federal investments in this area.