The governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, held an event in Miami this Thursday to announce the implementation of the Communist History Standards in the state's public schools, which he claims are the most comprehensive in the country.
The event took place at the Museum of Brigade 2506, an organization associated with the veterans of the Bay of Pigs invasion, behind a banner that read "Teaching the Dangers of Communism."
DeSantis was accompanied by educational leaders and survivors of communist regimes. "Florida takes pride in being the beacon of freedom for those who escaped the horrors of communism," declared the governor on his X account, where he also stated that the state has developed "the most comprehensive educational standards on communism in the country."
The new standards, approved by the Florida State Board of Education in November 2025, came into effect with the start of the 2026-2027 school year in August of this year and apply to students from sixth to twelfth grade.
To obtain the high school diploma, students in Florida will need to learn about the devastations caused by communism around the world. "They will hear real stories from people who lived under oppression in communist regimes in Cuba, the Soviet Union, China, and other places," DeSantis specified.
And he closed his message with a warning that encapsulates the spirit of the initiative: "We must always remain vigilant and never take our freedoms for granted."
The Cuban school curriculum covers the Cuban Revolution, Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward, the Tiananmen Square Massacre, and the Soviet five-year plans. It also includes the downing of the Brothers to the Rescue planes by the Cuban Air Force on February 24, 1996, which resulted in the deaths of three Cuban Americans and one Cuban residing in the United States.
After an update approved at the end of June, the standards also incorporated the criminal charge filed against Raúl Castro for his responsibility in that attack, making Florida the first state in the country to include that legal process in its official curriculum.
The state also created two elective high school courses: History of Communism 1 and History of Communism 2. Additionally, the legislation requires dedicating at least 45 minutes of instruction to the Day of the Victims of Communism, commemorated every November 7th.
This initiative is the result of a legislative evolution driven by DeSantis since 2021. In 2022, he signed the law that declares November 7th Victims of Communism Day, so that on this day students in Florida schools learn about the crimes committed under communist regimes. In 2024, he expanded that mandate with law SB 1264, which mandated comprehensive teaching about the history and global impact of that ideology.
In May of last year, DeSantis signed law HB 905 at the Bay of Pigs Museum, in front of veterans from Brigade 2506, tightening the state's restrictions on agreements with Cuba, China, Russia, and Iran, among others.
The initiative is part of a broader anti-communist offensive coordinated with the Trump administration. The president described communism as "the greatest threat to the United States" in his speech on July 3rd at Mount Rushmore, and in November 2025 proclaimed "Anti-Communist Week."
The curriculum has not been without criticism. The organization PEN America described it as a "dangerous rephrasing of McCarthyism as patriotism" and warned that it could limit the professional autonomy of educators. Professor Eduardo Gamarra from Florida International University noted that the state was effectively creating an "ideology" and an "official manual" for teaching communism.
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