A bill requiring Florida schools to teach the 'history of communism' advances

child care or preschool babysitting — Child care by Caiaimage/Robert Daly via iStock for WMNF News.

A bill that would require the history of communism to be taught in Florida’s public schools, potentially in grades as low as kindergarten, is ready for consideration by the full Senate.

The Senate Fiscal Policy Committee on Tuesday approved the bill (SB 1264), which would direct the state Department of Education to “prepare and offer” educational standards for communism history instruction.

Florida students currently can get lessons on communism in high-school social studies courses or in a seventh-grade civics and government course.

A high-school U.S. government class required for graduation also includes 45 minutes of instruction on “Victims of Communism Day,” which covers various communist regimes throughout history.

The bill calls for new communism-instruction standards to launch in the 2026-2027 school year.

For example, lessons would include subjects such as the “increasing threat of communism in the United States and to our allies through the 20th century” and “economic, industrial and political events that have preceded and anticipated communist revolutions.”

The measure also calls for standards to be “age appropriate and developmentally appropriate” for students.

Criticisms of the bill have largely centered on it potentially putting communism-related lessons in front of young students.

Bill sponsor Jay Collins, R-Tampa, pushed back on those criticisms during Tuesday’s meeting.

“This will be age-appropriate, and the educational specialists in DOE (the Department of Education) will figure out when and how that’s going to be at an age-appropriate level. This is not an indoctrination attempt,” Collins said.

A similar House bill (HB 1349) is ready for consideration by the full House.