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Bill will help invest in the next generation of Coloradans
(Feb. 7) – The House Education Committee approved a bill sponsored by Representative Lisa Cutter, D-Jefferson County that creates a media literacy advisory committee within the Department of Education. It’s important for Colorado students become more educated about the media and the role it plays in our society
“Our kids are immersed in media with an increasing degree of intensity and frequency. A healthy society is dependent on people being educated and informed, so it’s critical that we help them develop the tools to make sense of the information they are taking in,” said Rep. Cutter. “The goal of this bill is to ultimately provide educators with the tools necessary to help our youth better understand the world around them and be equipped to navigate it more effectively.”
This effort will help enrich Colorado’s students and their overall learning experience. The bill creates a media literacy advisory committee within the state Department of Education that is responsible for studying media literacy, including best practices and available resources, and then reporting back with recommendations for the House and Senate Education Committees. Cutter hopes to sponsor legislation in the future using these recommendations to implement media literacy studies in elementary and secondary education.
The Associated Press and Colorado Press Association testified in support of this bill, among others. A recent academic study shows that 82 percent of middle school students could not distinguish the difference between real news stories and advertisements.
HB19-1110 passed on a bipartisan vote of 8-5 and now heads to the House Appropriations committee.