DeSantis signs bill mandating lessons on history of communism for schoolchildren
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HIALEAH, Fla. (WFLA) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill Wednesday requiring lessons about the history of communism for schoolchildren in all grades.
DeSantis, Florida Department of Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. and several local officials spoke at the Hialeah Gardens Museum on Wednesday. The museum honors the 2506 Assault Brigade, which was captured by Fidel Castro’s forces during the Bay of Pigs Invasion and kept prisoner for 20 months.
Decrying the “communist indoctrination” in universities, DeSantis said the legislation builds upon a 2020 bill that requires Florida schools to observe Nov. 7 as “Victims of Communism Day.”
The bill, titled “History of Communism” (SB-1264), sets requirements for public schools to teach lessons about communism in the U.S. and abroad beginning in the 2026-2027 school year. The Department of Education laid out “age appropriate” curricula for teachers who will teach these lessons.
“The truth will set us free,” DeSantis said. “We will not allow our students to live in ignorance, nor be indoctrinated by communist apologists in schools. To the contrary, we will ensure students in Florida are taught the truth about the evils and dangers of communism.”
The lessons include “comparative discussion of political ideologies, such as communism and totalitarianism, which conflict with the principles of freedom and democracy essential to the founding principles of the United States,” the bill reads.
DeSantis said the “comprehensive” program includes lessons on countries like Cuba, China and Venezuela, as well as history of communist movements in the U.S. and the “strategies” used by American communist groups.
According to Diaz, the lessons will teach children to resist “the devil that is communism” ahead of alleged indoctrination at colleges and universities. Neither Diaz nor DeSantis specified how those institutions were imposing communist ideology on students.
Diaz praised efforts to champion “economic freedom” at Florida’s postsecondary schools, like the Adam Smith Center for Economic Freedom at Florida International University and the newly-established Institute for Freedom in the Americas at Miami Dade College.
“We are going to penetrate higher-ed and allow our students in higher-ed to be exposed to the truth. Those who come from K-12 will be armed, but we will continue to do that,” Diaz said. “For too long, we’ve had the other side try to impose their ideology and their version of the story, which is false, on our higher-ed students.”
This comes a day after DeSantis signed a lengthy education bill, which curtailed book challenges and laid out a path for struggling public schools to transition into charter schools, among other policy changes.
The Florida legislature sent 29 bills to the governor’s desk on Tuesday. Several were related to education, like the history of communism bill and one that allows chaplains in schools.
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