<h2><strong>Educator is among state’s first Financial Literacy Master Teachers</strong></h2>
<strong>From staff reports</strong>

A Beaufort High School teacher is one of the first educators statewide to qualify as a South Carolina Financial Literacy Master Teacher.

Erika Marshall, who teaches business classes at Beaufort High, is one of only 36 teachers statewide in the first cohort of master teachers.

State Treasurer Curtis Loftis said the new statewide initiative is designed to increase the number of teachers incorporating personal finance education into their classrooms.

“We congratulate these wonderful educators for their commitment to promoting financial literacy,” Loftis said in a release. “They share a passion that is important to conveying these vital life skills to students in their classrooms and to fellow teachers as they lead professional development workshops. We applaud their efforts, especially given the challenges of the current school year, and we look forward to seeing their continued growth and progress in the years to come.”

Sponsored by Future Scholar, South Carolina’s 529 College Savings Plan, and in partnership with SC Economics, the Financial Literacy Master Teacher Program provides financial incentives to K-12 teachers who are experts in financial literacy and want to teach professional development workshops for other educators in their districts.

Participating teachers will have access to specialized training and financial literacy curriculum resources that will better enable them to promote financial literacy education in K-12 schools.

Applicants must complete specific professional development classes and must create and teach professional development training. They then must pass the W!SE Personal Finance Certification Test for Educators.

W!SE is a nationally recognized credential certifying that educators demonstrate the proficiency required to teach personal finance.

The state master teacher program recently completed accepting applications for its next group of teachers and will begin registration for a third cohort in January 2021. To learn more, visit <a href="https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.scflmt.org&amp;c=E,1,agNXwprnkn3oisnqs0XyfN-ymfFPd3iEnbKf6uDYVAwuIm4T9BcUTWTs5FTGMiEZYSZsuHoU1tbDuPY78yeXUC2CnHkJfifa6fZE4Drb-5CH&amp;typo=1">www.scflmt.org</a>.