Growing interest in financial education, Ms. Morrison said, is driven by concern about student debt, as well as the rise of the gig economy and the shift from employer-provided pensions to market-based retirement accounts.

Recent research suggests that financial literacy is lacking among United States high school students. One in five American 15-year-olds doesn’t understand basic financial concepts, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

More must be done to improve access to financial education for lower-income students, the council’s report said. It cites research by Next Gen Personal Finance, a nonprofit group that develops courses and funds training for high school teachers, that analyzed course catalogs from 11,000 high schools. The research found that in states without a state-level mandate for personal finance instruction, poor students had far less access to financial education, compared to wealthier students.

Making personal finance instruction mandatory helps to reach students at all socioeconomic levels, advocates say. Teaching lower-income students is especially important, said Tim Ranzetta, founder of Next Gen, in part because their education is likely to also benefit their families.

“If you teach the kids,” he said, “you teach the parents.”

The council’s report also noted variations in the scope of instruction. A stand-alone course taught for at least a semester is the “gold standard” for personal finance in high school, Mr. Ranzetta said. But just seven states meet that measure, the council found; others may offer a course that lasts less than a semester or include the content in other classes.