This is the teaching of ideology, republican capitalism ideology, something republicans keep claiming they are trying to wipe out in schools.  We can not teach comparative ideas of systems or how anything including capitalism can be taken to unhealthy extremes.  Plus this law mandates stressing how bad and harmful communism is, which means stressing how great republican strongman democracy backed by run away capitalism is.   In Florida you can not teach anything in public schools that might make straight white cis Christian kids uncomfortable (or their parents unhappy) such as the truth about racism and how it still is in effect today or how some people are not straight cis or even Christian.   But none of these laws including this one doesn’t apply to any private or voucher school.  Just public ones?  Why because poor disadvantaged kids go to public schools, so let’s force right wing Christian nationalism white supremacy on to these kids.   Hugs.  Scottie

Rep. Ashley Gantt raised questions about what would be included, at what point a deep dive into totalitarianism would be “age appropriate,” and why voucher-funded schools are exempted from this requirement.

Rep. Anna Eskamani noted that the Legislature had established bans for discussions of diversity and sociology, and “in the context of what’s happening in K-12 schools,” she claimed the legislation was based on “teaching that a political ideology is bad” rather than a good-faith comparative study of ideologies.

Ahead of the final passage, Democrats floated amendments the day before to try to expand the bill to include analysis of “McCarthyism” and how the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol Riots could lead to communism, but these did not make the final product.

A.G. GancarskiMarch 6, 20244min

The sponsor says this is not ‘indoctrination.’

The mistakes made by the Soviets, the Chinese and other communist regimes are one step closer to being part of Florida K-12 classrooms.

The House passed by a 106-7 vote SB 1264, a “History of Communism” product previously passed by a 25-7 vote in the Senate, putting the bill on a path for a Gov. Ron DeSantis signature.

Ahead of the vote, some Democrats sought to knock the bill down, while Republicans and one Democrat loved it up.

Rep. Ashley Gantt raised questions about what would be included, at what point a deep dive into totalitarianism would be “age appropriate,” and why voucher-funded schools are exempted from this requirement.

Rep. Anna Eskamani noted that the Legislature had established bans for discussions of diversity and sociology, and “in the context of what’s happening in K-12 schools,” she claimed the legislation was based on “teaching that a political ideology is bad” rather than a good-faith comparative study of ideologies.

 

Rep. Bruce Antone, a Democrat, rose in support of the bill until he was reminded he was speaking during the block of time reserved for opposition.0

Rep. Chuck Brannan, closing on his bill, said the real purpose was to address concerns of Florida’s “diverse communities” of refugees from communist countries, not to “indoctrinate anybody or promote fear mongering.”

Students in traditional public and charter K-12 schools are on track to receive instruction on the history of communism beginning in the 2026-27 academic year in what is billed as an age-appropriate and developmentally appropriate way.

The bill would also compel the creation of a museum of history of communism, create the Institute for Freedom in Americas at Miami Dade College, and rename the Adam Smith Center for Study of Economic Freedom as the Adam Smith Center for Economic Freedom.

There is a key party

..split on these bills among actual voters, meanwhile.

 

Polling conducted by Sachs Media found Republicans were overwhelmingly supportive (74%) of an effort to teach K-12 students about the “horrors of communism.” By comparison, only 41% of Democrats believe kids need a crash course on Soviet genocide.

Ahead of the final passage, Democrats floated amendments the day before to try to expand the bill to include analysis of “McCarthyism” and how the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol Riots could lead to communism, but these did not make the final product.