About 140 educators today are attending the third annual financial literacy conference, which organizers say is intended to provide teachers with the tools needed to help students learn how to responsibly spend and save money.

Maine educators today are meeting in Augusta to tackle the issue of so-called financial literacy. The third annual Fostering Financial Literacy in Maine Schools Conference drew 140 teachers from across the state for a day of intensive training.

The conference features a finance boot camp designed to provide teachers with learning materials they can take directly into classrooms.

State Office of Securities Administrator Judith Shaw says recent studies show high school students are spending significant sums of money. "Teenagers in 2011 spent more than $75 billion, and about 35 percent of our high school seniors already use credit cards," Shaw says. "It's critical that we start with financial literacy in childhood."

Lessons are designed to teach students from pre-kindergarten though high school about the value of money and the value of saving.

Robert Smith contributed to this report.