DALLAS – Students at Bayles Elementary School in Dallas are starting a brand new lesson. It is an early and unique lesson in financial education.
The program is already hitting home for some youngsters, like fifth grader Angel Plaza.
"I used to get allowance each Saturday," Plaza said. "I'd spend it all in one place."
Or so he did, until taking the financial literacy courses his school is now offering.
Spending, savings, debt, credit, and taxes are all money issues that are part of the new financial literacy program at Bayles.
It is sponsored by BBVA Compass. Manolo Sanchez is the bank's chairman and CEO.
"We are teaching them the very basic concepts of wants and needs," Sanchez said.
Some NBA and WNBA stars and legends traveled to Bayles on Thursday, surprising the students by awarding their school 32 new Samsung tablets. All of the devices are equipped with EverFi web-based technology and programs to help the children in their financial education classes.
Dallas Mavericks forward Chandler Parsons spoke with students. He encouraged them to start saving early.
"I've never had this opportunity growing up," Parsons said. "BBVA and these guys put on the unbelievable, where these kids can learn. Starting off at five, six, seven or eight years old is an unbelievable opportunity to know this stuff and be good at it by the time they get to high school and college."
Administrators say, so far, Bayles Elementary is the first campus in Dallas ISD that BBVA Compass has identified for its financial literacy program.
BBVA Compass executives say the school was chosen, in part, due to its economically-challenged population. The program has been working in schools across 20 cities.
BBVA Compass offers the financial literacy courses at no cost to its partner schools. many of those campuses are in low-income communities.
Students like Plaza say the financial literacy courses are already helping them out.
"Now that I've got that program, I save one dollar each allowance, and build up some cash," he said.
