How your Florida lawmakers voted on teaching communism in schools | Opinion

Every year Florida lawmakers leave their communities for Tallahassee to address issues affecting the state's 20 million-plus residents. To help our readers see where their representatives and senators stand on key issues, The Palm Beach Post Editorial Board presents recaps of key floor votes on select bills that will likely become law.

TEACHING COMMUNISM: State lawmakers approved legislation that will require public schools to teach the history of communism to students as young as kindergarteners. Imagine little Johnny and Janie still struggling with reading and counting skills now having to deal with the ideology of Karl Marx or the conspiracy theories of Joe McCarthy.

The legislation, SB 1264, calls for class instruction on the history of communism in an "age-developmentally-appropriate" manner. Lessons would include communism's history in America, the atrocities, cultural and political events in other countries and comparative discussions that show how communism and related political ideologies conflict with the principles of democracy and freedom that are the foundational ideals of the United States.

Intentions aside, the legislation that will become law once Gov. Ron DeSantis signs it, is problematic at best.

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Where's the curriculum that will make sense of Marx, Friedrich Engels and the Bolshevik Party to a 5-year-old? The alphabet, language development, math and science are challenging enough for students just starting school. Now, Florida's going to include one of the world's most controversial political ideologies. How that will be accomplished in an age-appropriate way remains to be seen. More importantly, will young students benefit from it?

Next question, who's going to teach the course? The last time we checked, we didn't see an abundance of classroom leaders steeped in political ideology instruction, especially for younger students. In fact Florida faces critical teacher shortages, particularly in English, exceptional student education, math and reading. Those shortages alone should leave parents wary about putting new priorities on finding teachers for communism classes.

Finally, what's to stop the new course from becoming an exercise in political indoctrination? The line between bashing the evils of communism and extolling the virtues of democracy is a thin one as framed in this bill. Without the safeguards against indoctrination that state leaders insisted be applied to so-called "woke" curriculum of race, gender and sexual identity, what's to stop the new communism courses from becoming a jingoism class?

If enacted by the Governor, as expected, the challenge will fall upon the Florida Department of Education, once the law takes effect in 2026. Implementing the new curriculum will be interesting to say the least.

What started as an idea was filed into bill form, debated by members of the Florida Legislature and ultimately approved by majorities in both legislative chambers. Here's how the Palm Beach County Legislative Delegation voted:

NO

• Sen. Lori Berman, D-Boynton Beach

• Sen. Tina Polsky, D-Boca Raton

• Sen. Bobby Powell, D-West Palm Beach

YES

• Sen. Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart

• Rep. Mike Caruso, R-Delray Beach

• Rep. Jervonte "Tae" Edmonds, D-West Palm Beach

• Rep. Peggy Gossett-Seidman, R-Highland Beach

• Rep. Rick Roth, R-West Palm Beach

• Rep. David Silvers, D-Lake Clarke Shores

• Rep. John Snyder, R-Stuart

• Rep. Katherine Waldron, D-Wellington

DID NOT VOTE:

Rep. Joe Casello, D-Boynton Beach

Rep. Kelly Skidmore, D-Boca Raton

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Here's how Palm Beach County state lawmakers voted to teach communism,