Education |

DeSantis signs bill mandating kindergartners learn history of communism

Flanked by veterans who served in the Bay of Pigs invasion, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday signed a measure that will lead to the history of communism being taught from kindergarten to the 12th grade in public schools.

“We’re going to tell the truth about the evils of communism,” DeSantis said at the bill signing in Hialeah Gardens.

State lawmakers overwhelmingly approved the measure (SB 1264) during the 2024 legislative session that ended last month. Under the bill, lessons on the history of communism will be added to required instruction in public schools starting in the 2026-27 school year.

The lessons would have to be “age appropriate and developmentally appropriate” and incorporate various topics related to communism, its history in the United States, including tactics used by communists.

“Atrocities committed in foreign countries under the guidance of communism,” also would be required as part of the lessons.

“All of this will be spread across the curriculum K through 12,”  said Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. The Department of Education will draw up academic standards for the lessons.

DeSantis signed the bill on the 63rd anniversary of the Bay of Pigs Invasion and was joined at the bill-signing event by people who fought in the invasion in an attempt to overthrow the Fidel Castro regime.

Rafael Montalvo, president of Brigade 2506 Veterans Association, was among the people who addressed the event at the Hialeah Gardens Museum. The museum features a building funded through the Florida Department of State to honor “the noble efforts of the 2506 Assault Brigade during the Bay of Pigs Invasion.”

“The most important fight against communism is the one that’s done in the schoolrooms,” Montalvo said. “That’s where the battle is happening right now. And this is going to be a tool [giving] us the victory in that area.”

Florida students are already taught about communism in high-school social studies classes and 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.”