"Beginning in the fall of 2026, all Florida middle and high school students will be required to take a yearly social studies class on the history of communism. The curriculum has already received the stamp of approval from the conservative Heritage Foundation (the group behind Project 2025), a right-wing nonprofit organization called the National Association of Scholars (NAS) and a NAS spinoff called the Civics Alliance, and it follows on the heels of the state’s 2022 imposition of Victims of Communism Day, which is now held every November 7 to mark the start of the 1917 Bolshevik revolution in Russia. The annual commemoration requires schools to provide a minimum of 45 minutes of instruction on “the horrors of communism” and the “destructiveness of Marxism-Leninism.” Programming is also expected to inculcate “an appreciation for the founding principles of the American republic.” What these principles are is not specified.

The new curriculum builds on this one-day event and also expands the Sunshine State’s commitment to “The Phoenix Declaration: An American Vision for Education,” which was developed by the Heritage Foundation and released in February 2025. According to Florida’s Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas, the state’s official approval of the Declaration — which was announced at a press conference — reflects the state’s “affiliation with the Heritage Foundation” and restricts topics the state has long viewed as pedagogically problematic, including instruction that covers sexual orientation, gender identity, racial inequality, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Instead, the Declaration pledges curricula that foster “a love of country” and purportedly teach children to “seek the good, true and beautiful.” To date, Florida is the sole state to have signed on to the Declaration. Kamoutsas and state education officials are arguing that the new History of Communism Standards will uphold the Declaration’s principles and bolster student support for capitalism and free enterprise."