Establishes the "Media Literacy and Critical Thinking Act"

HB 116 establishes a two-year pilot program (2026-27 and 2027-28) to develop media literacy education in select K-12 school districts. It requires the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to choose 5-7 diverse districts to integrate critical analysis skills - such as evaluating news accuracy, identifying misinformation, understanding digital ethics, and recognizing bias - into daily classroom lessons. The pilot will generate guidelines and recommendations by 2029, which could inform future statewide standards for media literacy education. The bill does not mandate statewide implementation but aims to study effective strategies before considering broader adoption.