Hialeah Gardens - Wednesday April 17, 2024: Governor DeSantis Wednesday signed a measure that will lead to the history of communism being taught in grades as low as kindergarten.
He signed the measure at the Hialeah Gardens Museum on the 63rd anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion, a failed attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro's dictatorship in Cuba that took place on April 17th, 1961.
Under Senate Bill 1264, the Florida Department of Education will prepare age appropriate course curricula on the history of communism for all grade levels, including kindergarten. The legislation requires a heavy emphasis on the economic upheaval and restrictions on personal freedom that have been seen in Communist countries.
Courses on the history of communism will be required instruction in Florida public schools at the start of the 2026 school year.
“We are going to tell the truth about Communism in the state of Florida," said the Governor at the signing ceremony. "We are going to tell the truth about the evils of Communism. We are going to tell the truth about the unprecedented death toll of the 20th century at the hands of Communist tyranny.”
The Governor said the course work would also prepare students to withstand what he called the indoctrination on Communism at many colleges and universities.
Florida’s public-school students currently offer lessons on communism in high-school social studies classes and in a seventh-grade civics and government course. A high-school U.S. government class that is a requirement for graduation also includes 45 minutes of instruction on “Victims of Communism Day.”
SB 1264:
- Adds to existing Communist history standards with instruction on the history of Communism in the United States and the tactics of Communist movements.
- Authorizes the newly-established Institute for Freedom in the Americas at Miami Dade College to promote the importance of economic and individual freedoms as a means to advance human progress—specifically in Latin America and the Caribbean. This institute will partner with the Adam Smith Center for Economic Freedom at Florida International University.
- Enables the Florida Department of State, in collaboration with the Florida Department of Education, to recommend to the Legislature the creation of a Florida-based museum on the history of Communism.