DENVER — The Colorado House on Thursday had just a few bills up for second reading debate, but the morning was taken up with just one: House Bill 21-1103, intended to implement the recommendations from a media literacy report from 2019.
The bill is the successor to House Bill 19-1110, which required the Colorado Department of Education to convene a committee that would come up with recommendations on a media literacy curriculum that would become part of civics education the next time those standards are updated. That just happens to be taking place this year, under a bill (SB 21-067) now headed to the House.
In 2019, Republicans objected to adding more to the elementary and secondary curriculum as well as who would sit on that media literacy panel, complaining the report would be skewed by appointing teachers and other union personnel. “The fox [would be] in charge of the henhouse,” according to Rep. Mark Baisley, R-Roxborough Park. “To bring the folks who produce what we should be skeptical about to advise how it should be taught, [makes it] ripe for bias and defeats the purpose."
House GOP objections to the 2021 bill focused on alleged bias and lack of community engagement.
Rep. Tim Geitner, R-Falcon, said what kids need is to learn critical thinking, not media literacy. He also had concerns over a resource bank listed in the bill, which he indicated could include materials that could be controversial or biased.
>9NEWS.com readers can see the full story at Colorado Politics.
SUGGESTED VIDEOS: Full Episodes of Next with Kyle Clark