Florida adopts new standards for teaching 'evils of communism' [View all]

The State Board of Education also adopted a statement of priorities authored by the Heritage Foundation.

Citing fears that socialism and communism are infiltrating every aspect of American life, Florida’s State Board of Education on Tuesday adopted new academic standards for teaching children about the history and evils of communism.

“Once socialism and communism take hold ... there is no more thinking for yourself,” said board member Layla Collins, whose husband Lt. Gov. Jay Collins sponsored legislation requiring the instruction while in the state Senate. “Our responsibility is to ensure the end of this march toward political violence.”

The board’s action came immediately after it became the first state in the nation to endorse the Heritage Foundation’s Phoenix Declaration, a position paper that aims to set forth what’s “the good, the true and the beautiful” in education.

“I’d like to be for something,” said board Chairperson Ryan Petty, an initial signatory to the document. “We may not all agree on what that something is … but we’re putting a flag in the sand and saying these are things we think are important."

https://www.tampabay.com/news/education/2025/11/13/florida-adopts-new-standards-teaching-evils-communism/