Florida approved a new curriculum on Thursday to teach public school students about the “dangers and evils of communism,” academic standards that some historians have criticized as propaganda.

Members of the State Board of Education, meeting in the Panhandle, also signed a Heritage Foundation education pledge to teach students about “good and evil” in the world and help them foster “a healthy sense of patriotism.” Florida is the first state to sign the declaration put out by the conservative think tank influential with the Trump administration.

The approved standards for middle-and-high-school social studies classes stem from legislation (SB 1264) Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed in 2024. The law mandates instruction on the “consequences of communism” and aims to prepare students to “

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