An Act amending the act of March 10, 1949 (P.L.30, No.14), known as the Public School Code of 1949, in terms and courses of study, providing for media literacy education.
HB332 would amend Pennsylvania’s Public School Code to require media literacy education in K-12 schools. The Department of Education, in consultation with the State Board of Education, would have to develop an age-appropriate model curriculum within six months of the law’s effective date, and school districts would then be required to incorporate a media literacy component into their curricula beginning with the next school year.
The bill defines media literacy broadly through suggested curriculum topics such as critical thinking, how media shapes culture and society, identifying marketing and persuasion techniques, recognizing bias and misinformation, noticing omitted perspectives, and evaluating media messages through personal experience, skills, beliefs, and values. It also directs the State Board of Education to post the curriculum publicly and requires the Department of Education to provide districts with online resources and approved training opportunities for teacher professional development.
If enacted, HB332 would add a new section to the Public School Code of 1949 and create a statewide mandate for media literacy instruction in Pennsylvania public schools. It would place responsibility on the Department of Education and State Board of Education to create and publish model materials, while requiring school districts to integrate media literacy into their curricula. The bill would affect K-12 students, teachers, school districts, and state education agencies, and it would likely influence curriculum planning, teacher training, and instructional resources across the Commonwealth.
The bill’s introduction and sponsorship suggest generally favorable support for expanding student media literacy, with a broad bipartisan-style coalition of House sponsors. However, there is no recorded committee debate or vote history in the provided materials, so the available record does not show formal opposition or support beyond the bill’s introduction. Overall, the measure appears to be framed as an education and civic-skills initiative aimed at helping students navigate misinformation and modern media environments.
No committee transcript or vote record is provided, so there are no documented points of contention in the available materials. Based on the bill text, any potential debate would likely center on whether the state should mandate curriculum content for districts, how much discretion local schools should retain, the cost and feasibility of teacher training and implementation, and whether the required media literacy standards should be prescriptive or advisory. Concerns could also arise over how topics like bias, persuasion, and values-based evaluation are taught in a politically neutral way.