A survey of 1,000 Latinos done in March 2006 found overwhelming support for state-funded
pre-kindergarten for all children, including a strong belief that children who attend pre-k have significant educational advantages over those who do not attend. Some highlights of the poll results include:
- While ninety-seven percent of parents say that they would enroll their children in free, voluntary pre-k if it were available in their community, nationally only about forty percent of Latino children attend pre-k. According to the poll, the main reasons that Latinos do not enroll their children are: parents' lack of awareness about pre-k programs in their community (33%) and an inability to afford programs (21%).
- Sixty-nine percent of respondents believed that pre-k for all is an important priority for the government to address now, and over three-quarters (78%) would be more likely to support a candidate running for office if he or she proposed making voluntary pre-k available to all families. Additionally, seventy-three percent of respondents would be willing to pay more taxes to expand public pre-k programs.
- Ninety-six percent of Latinos believe it is important for children to attend a pre-k program before kindergarten, most notably because it helps children learn academic skills, letters, numbers, and colors (48%).
This survey was conducted for Pre-K Now by the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute and Valencia, Perez, & Echeveste.
* Respondents were from ten states: California, Texas, Illinois, Florida, New York, New Jersey, Arkansas, North Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee.
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