Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the implementation of Florida's anti-communist education standards to teach students about the history and horrors of communism while speaking during a press conference at the Bay of Pigs Museum & Library in Miami this week.
The announcement comes after Gov. DeSantis signed a bill in 2024 requiring Florida schools to teach the history and evils of communism from kindergarten through high school in 2024. The bill, SB 1264, was sponsored by in the Florida Legislature by then Sen. Jay Collins and Reps. Chuck Brannan III (R-Macclenny) and James Buchanan (R-Sarasota).
"The history of communism standards are embedded in multiple social studies courses to give students a deeper understanding of communism's historical impact worldwide and reinforce our commitment to freedom and constitutional principles," DeSantis said.Â
The standards, approved by former Florida Education Commissioner Anastasios "Stasi" Kamoutsas, were also updated to include the indictment of former First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Raúl Castro and the collapse of the former President Nicolas Maduro and his regime in Venezuela.
Castro was indicted by a U.S. federal grand jury in April for his alleged role in shooting down two unarmed civilian planes operated by a Miami-based humanitarian group over the Straits of Florida in 1996, resulting in the deaths of four individuals. Castro, the younger brother of former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, was charged with murder and conspiracy by the grand jury.
Maduro was captured by U.S. special forces at a military compound in Caracas on Jan. 3. He was quickly extradited to the United States and charged with drug trafficking, narco-terrorism, and weapons charges in New York.
Both Castro and Maduro presided over years of communist rule leading to many residents fleeing to the United States, particularly to Miami and South Florida.
Moreover, the bill established the Portraits of Patriotism initiative requiring the Florida Department of Education to share personal stories of people who fell victim to communism.
"I know that's been a huge, huge thing for particularly younger people to be able to see this and put a human face with what these ideas represent, both pro ideas in terms of American freedom, and then bad ideas represented in communism," DeSantis said.
Florida Education Commissioner Henry Mack praised Gov. DeSantis for the implementation's importance.
"It's not about indoctrination; it's about history. And a quality education, a great education, always exposed students to books that were opposed to Western civilization principally and primarily to enlighten them, to illuminate them, to let them know the ills, the pitfalls, and the travesty that has occurred under these utopian principles," Mack said.Â
Kamoutsas, Republican Lt. Gov. candidate Bryan Avila, and several South Florida lawmakers were also present at the event.
