Second House panel OKs bill requiring K-12 schools to teach history of communism

The week-long civics lesson includes a speech from Gov. DeSantis.

A House subcommittee advanced a bill that would require K-12 students to learn about communism despite objections from Democrats and others against mandating instruction on the polarizing topic that’s become part of the GOP cultural war.

If passed, HB 1349 would require public schools to teach about the communism in grades K-12 starting in the 2026-27 school year. According to staff analysis, students would learn about the movement’s history, foreign atrocities committed by communists, cultural Marxism and more.

Rep. James Buchanan, the Republican from Sarasota County’s Osprey who co-sponsored the bill, said the idea came from a constituent, whom he did not name. Buchanan compared his bill’s framework to other bills done for Holocaust and Black history education.

Fighting cultural Marxism has been an issue taken up by conservatives as part of the ongoing cultural wars. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, took aim at K-12 schools and higher education in its 2022 report warning how cultural Marxism threatens the United States.

Speaking Tuesday at the House PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee meeting was John Labriola with the Christian Family Coalition. He argued in support of the bill, saying children need to understand that communism “is a godless, tyrannical, murderous system that has killed tens of millions.”

He also said he tied communism with critical race theory and the LGBTQ community, two issues targeted by Republican lawmakers.

“The American iteration of communism has been the cultural Marxism, and it’s been manifested in things like the critical race theory, using the victim oppressor narratives, as well as the sexual orientation agendas of the LGBT movement, using things like gender identity,” he said Tuesday before asking for bipartisan support for the bill during the meeting. HB 1349 passed 10-2.

Other lawmakers and advocates argued the state has more pressing issues to focus on than teaching the history of communism, such as students who can’t read on grade level.

“If you wrongly pass this, I hoped that the issue of censorship and banning books in the communist nations would also be part of this curriculum,” said Julie Meadows-Keefe, who spoke on behalf of Florida Moms for Accurate Education and took a dig on Florida’s laws that make it easier for parents to push back on books they didn’t like on the shelves.

The bill won other Republicans’ support.

“I believe it’s never too early to teach our children the atrocities of communism,” said Rep. Alina Garcia, a Miami Republican who was born in Cuba. “When we don’t learn from our history, we are destined to repeat it.”

GOP Rep. Vicki Lopez said she remembered studying Marxism, communism and the Joseph McCarthy era when she went to school.

“I didn’t think it was unusual. It wasn’t divisive. I’m curious to how we got away from it, quite frankly,” the Republican from Coral Gables said. “It’s part of world history.”

The legislation has one more stop in front of the House Education & Employment Committee. A companion bill (SB 1264) sponsored by Republican Sen. Jay Collins is in its second of three committee stops.