Senator Akaka is a leading advocate for economic and financial literacy. On August 4, 1999, Senator Akaka, in response to the sobering state of economic illiteracy as represented in a Parade Magazine article featuring a National Council on Economic Education (NCEE) study, introduced the Excellence in Economic Education Act (EEE Act). The EEE Act passed in December 2001 as a part of the No Child Left Behind Act.

Senator Akaka successfully obtained $1.5 million in FY 2004 funding for the EEE Act and has made significant progress in his fight to preserve the same level of funding for the EEE Act in FY 2005, battling against an effort by the U.S. Department of Education to terminate the program. Earlier this year, the NCEE was selected as the first EEE Act grantee and will use the funding to improve student understanding about economic and financial literacy in classrooms throughout the nation. The organization will distribute 75 percent of funds to state and local partnerships for teacher training, assistance to school districts desiring to incorporate economics and personal finance into curricula, evaluations of the impact of economic and financial literacy education on students, related research, and school-based student activities.