Companies linked to a Trump appointee are seeking money from Florida taxpayers — and giving money to Florida lawmakers

Florida in Five: Five stories to read from the past week in Florida politics.

Photo credit: U.S. Department of State

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Welcome to another installment of Florida in Five: Five* stories you need to read from the past week in Florida politics.

A for-profit children’s education company connected to Trump appointee and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee wants more than $1 million from Florida taxpayers to develop lesson plans and instructional materials under a new law requiring Florida public schools to teach students about the history of communism.

At the same time, an affiliate of the company has begun donating tens of thousands of dollars to key lawmakers in Tallahassee — including the legislators in charge of writing the K-12 education budget in both the state House and Senate. The company has also retained a lobbying firm run by one of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ top political fundraisers.

At issue is a proposed budget earmark that would steer $1.45 million in public funds to a faith-based educational content company called “eSpired.” That money, budget documents show, would pay for a “customized curriculum” that Florida schools could use to comply with a 2024 state law ordering them to provide instruction on communist history beginning in the 2026-27 school year. The mandatory lessons, which must emphasize “the increasing threat of communism in the United States,” will start in sixth grade and continue throughout middle and high school.

Excerpts from the budget request that would earmark $1.45 million for eSpired. (Source: Florida House of Representatives)

Based in Boca Raton, eSpired is perhaps best known for selling “The Kids Guide,” a series of explicitly partisan books about history and current events aimed at young children. Titles include “The Kids Guide to How the Bible Built America,” “The Kids Guide to Media Bias and Fake News,” and “The Kids Guide to the Truth About Climate Change.”

A number of entries feature Republican politicians and conservative icons, including Donald Trump, Ronald Reagan, and Charlie Kirk. There’s even a fawning entry focused on Ron DeSantis that was published back when the Florida governor was seen as a front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. (The sticker price on that one has since been slashed from $21.99 to $1.99.)

“See why parents everywhere are choosing The Kids Guide to teach their kids how to fight back against the liberal agenda,” Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and conservative media personality who now serves as Donald Trump’s ambassador to Israel, says in one promotional plug.

eSpired’s “consumer brands” include The Kids Guide. (Source: eSpired LLC)

Kids Guide books are published by an affiliate of eSpired called “Learn Our History,” which Huckabee co-founded more than a decade ago with Brad Saft, a business partner and Florida-based investor. Learn Our History was launched first, and eSpired came along a few years later.

Saft manages both Learn Our History LLC and eSpired LLC, according to corporate filings in Florida. Huckabee is the salesman: The former governor pocketed more than $60,000 in “spokesperson fees” from eSpired in 2024, according to a federal financial disclosure he had to file after being appointed ambassador to Israel.

And while eSpired lobbies for money from Florida taxpayers, Learn Our History is handing money to Florida lawmakers.

A review of campaign-finance records shows that Learn Our History contributed at least $30,000 last month to fundraising committees associated with key leaders in the Florida Legislature.

The company’s gifts included $10,000 to Sen. Jim Boyd (R-Bradenton), who is expected to become president of the Florida Senate after this year’s elections, and $5,000 to Sen. Danny Burgess (R-Zephyrhills), who chairs the Senate PreK-12 Education Appropriations Committee.

Learn Our History also gave $5,000 each to Rep. Sam Garrison (R-Fleming Island) and to Rep. Jennifer Canady (R-Lakeland), who are in line to become speaker of the state House after the 2026 and 2028 elections, respectively. And it gave another $5,000 to Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka (R-Fort Myers), who chairs the House PreK-12 Budget Subcommittee.

Of course, perhaps a company that un-ironically peddles “The Kids Guide to Fighting Indoctrination” — a book that “may be your last chance to prevent the indoctrination of your children,” Mike Huckabee says — is the perfect choice to design the curriculum for Florida’s new history of communism courses, which some independent historians say seem designed to indoctrinate students rather than encourage critical thinking.

The new courses will, among other things, emphasize the use of propaganda — including the“repackaging of Marxist ideology” in modern media and entertainment; the spread of Che Guevara t-shirts and “communist iconology in popular culture;” and the use of terms like “McCarthyism” and “Red Scare” to delegitimize anti-communists.

*To paraphrase Barbossa, five is more what you’d call a guideline than an actual rule.

And 20,000 is an undercount

Caught in the Crackdown: Florida’s mass deportation campaign sweeps up 20,000, including those with clean records (Miami Herald) ($)

See also: Bills for 2026 Florida legislative session target immigration (USA Today Network – Florida) ($)

It’s gonna be John Guard (or maybe Sam Salario)

Six Florida Supreme Court finalists teed up for DeSantis (News Service of Florida)

See also: DeSantis appoints former UF football coach Urban Meyer to New College board (Bradenton Herald) ($)

Petty retribution

Trump vetoes bill that would protect Miccosukee village in Everglades (USA Today Network – Florida) ($)

Florida courts retaliate against a DeSantis critic

A Florida lawyer challenged DeSantis. Then came Florida Bar discipline. (Tampa Bay Times) ($)

See also: Florida Bar finally puts DeSantis critic on trial, but strategy backfires (Florida Bulldog)

See also: Florida Supreme Court nixes Uthmeier lawyer proposal (News Service of Florida)

The perils of parachuting in

New College of Florida Was Progressive. Then Gov. DeSantis Overhauled It. (New York Times) ($)

See also: The rest of a very sad story at New College | Editorial (South Florida Sun-Sentinel) ($)

See also: NCA Responds to the New York Times’ December 28th Front Page Coverage of New College (Novo Collegian Alliance)

Perspectives

We shouldn’t have had to sue the DeSantis administration. But we did and are already winning (Orlando Sentinel) ($)

Court shut down Florida AG’s plan to lower the bar for government attorneys. Good (Miami Herald) ($)

Thirsty AI data center runs into Florida community opposition (Florida Phoenix)