Action for Media Education celebrates new media literacy funding for Washington’s educators!

Action for Media Education is excited to announce the biggest legislative win yet for Washington’s media literacy community!

A huge thanks to the incredible Senator Marko Liias! Senator Liias has served as the primary sponsor of all our media literacy legislation since 2016 when Washington became the first state in the nation to pass a media literacy bill. Also, to supporters all across our state, your many calls and emails have really made a difference!

This 2021 legislation sponsored by Senator Liias provided increased funding to support media literacy-based activities throughout Washington. We are especially ecstatic that this legislation will remain in effect until July 31, 2031!

Passage of this 2021 legislation made it possible for us to:

Continue the very successful media literacy grant program initiated with legislation passed in 2019 to support curriculum development efforts.
Begin also providing grants for the formation of professional learning communities. These communities will share challenges their districts face and explore new strategies for integrating media literacy education in their classrooms.
Support two media literacy conferences held in eastern and western Washington.
Create a position at Washington’s Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) for the first Media Literacy Supervisor in the country.

Read more about HB1365 here.

Washington’s success to date allowed our state to maintain its position of leadership in passing media literacy legislation. Here’s a short history of other legislation our state has passed prior to 2021:

The first media literacy bill in the nation was passed here in Washington in 2016. This bill has become a model for other states. Read more about our success in passing SSB 6273 here.
In 2017, a follow-up bill was passed. Read more about our continuing success with SSB 5449.
In 2019, new legislation establishing a media literacy grant program was passed. Read more about Washington’s new media literacy grant program.
In 2020 a budget proviso making it possible to conduct 5 pre-conferences across the state was passed but later deleted by executive order along with many other provisos during the pandemic.

In 2022 there has been still another very exciting development! Washington’s OSPI received an additional $300,00 to fund a pilot for a new Media Literacy/Digital Citizenship Ambassador’s Program. Educators selected through an application process will participate in this newly created professional development program designed to help them become change agents promoting media literacy/digital citizenship in their respective districts. Only one educator per district will be selected. Based on the success of the pilot, $300,000 per year beyond this first pilot year will be awarded to continue the Ambassadors Program.