It has often been said America’s teenagers need to learn the value of a buck, and U.S. Senator Kay Hagan is introducing a bill that would help them do it.

The Financial Literacy for Students Act of 2009, the first piece of legislation the freshman Senator has introduced in Washington, is modeled from a bill she introduced on the floor of the North Carolina Senate dealing with financial literacy education in public schools.

The North Carolina bill mandated financial literacy education in the state’s high schools.

“What this bill does, it actually sets up grants that states can apply for so they can incorporate financial literacy in grades six through 12,” Hagan said in a prepared statement.

“I think it is crucial that in society today, credit is everywhere. People use debit cards, credit cards and we have a huge problem.”

Hagan cited the recent meltdown of the subprime mortgage market and the practices of credit card companies as evidence of the country’s credit problem.

“This is not rocket science,” she continued. “We just have not done a good job of teaching our young people how to manage credit.”

Hagan said 20 percent of the money provided in the grants would be available to spend on the training of instructors, “but the large majority of these grants actually have to be used in the classroom for instruction to the students.”

The bill would set up funding for the federal grant program in 2010 and the four subsequent budget years. No firm numbers are used in the bill, which calls for “... such sums as may be necessary ...”

Hagan took office in January after beating incumbent Republican Elizabeth Dole in the November elections.

Before her current position, Hagan served as a North Carolina State Senator for a decade.

On her congressional website, www.hagan.senate.gov, she lists balancing the budget, and upholding “pay as you go” budgetary practices, as one of her top legislative priorities.