Implement Digital Safety And Literacy Courses Into Middle Schools.

 

This bill would require middle schoolers to take a class educating them on digital safety before moving on to high

school, ensuring that students learn how to navigate the internet safely and responsibly. This curriculum would include,

but would not be limited to, the following topics: cyberbullying prevention and response, online privacy, identifying

online scams, responsible social media use, evaluating credibility of online sources, and the responsible use of

artificial intelligence.

 

The rise of technology is so apparent in today’s society. In and out of school people are constantly using some form of

media to communicate. Teaching digital literacy is so important now more than ever, especially with the rise of

artificial intelligence, deepfakes, and influencers. Middle school is the most crucial time to educate students about

the dangers of technology and social media. Pre-teens and teens face a period of physical and emotional development as

they transition into young adults, this can leave them in a very vulnerable place, but these digital safety and literacy

courses would set them up to think critically and make safe choices online. Research shows that 95% of teens own

smartphones, around 88% have computers, and 70% own some kind of tablet. It has also been studied that teens use an

average of 8 hours of media per day, pre-teens using 6 hours. These percentages are way too high to not be implementing

digital safety and literacy into curriculums before students are thrown into more advanced schooling. Because teachers

and students rely on digital resources to enhance the school environment, it's only fair that students are equipped with

the right tools to navigate this technological world.

 

Digital safety: The practice of protecting yourself, your information, and your devices from online harm

Digital literacy: The ability to use, evaluate, and create information through digital technologies

Teenagers: Ages 13-18

Pre-teens: Ages 8-12

Deepfakes: A video, image, etc. in which a person's face, body or voice has been digitally altered so that they appear

to be someone else

Sin tax: A tax on items considered undesirable or harmful

 

In order to fund teacher salaries, curriculum development, and additional materials, this bill will provide $350,000 to

be divided up between all Minnesota public schools over the course of six years. The Minnesota State Board of Education

receives 42.334 billion dollars from various taxes. specifically they receive 853,340,000 from the sin tax. In order to

fund this bill, we will increase the percentage from the sin ta from 2% to 2.00084%. This simple increase will put the

surplus of taxes from liquor, tobacco, and gambling to a good cause: educating our youth.

 

If school districts do not comply with this curriculum update, the schools will risk lack of funding from the state.

 

This bill will be implemented on August 1st 2032