Money Before Our Latino Childrens Education: Newsom’s Veto of Mandatory Kindergarten

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Yes, Gov. Gavin Newsom argued that California’s budget did not allow for a petition to mandate that all California children attend kindergarten. And then he vetoed it.

What he did not resolve is how Latino and African-American children can be educated to close the learning gap with white children.

Here’s the data:

-About eight-in-ten Latino children face at least one difficult childhood experience and have fewer resources for nutrition, exercise and early childhood learning, especially pre-K, according to a report by Salud America! at UT Health San Antonio. These early roadblocks affect future health and personal development, but researchers say there are solutions that work.

– On the educational front, many Latino children are not on par with their peers when they begin kindergarten. Around 40 percent live in “child care deserts” with few preschools. And largely due to lack of access and because of costs, only 42 percent of Latino kids attend preschool, which makes them unprepared when they begin Kindergarten.

The study is “a comprehensive research review on what is the current state of early Latino childhood development,” said Rosalie Aguilar, project coordinator for Salud America! and an author of the new research review.

“The majority of children who are not enrolled in kindergarten are from low-income Latino families,” said Pedro Noguera, dean of USC’s Rossier School of Education to Los Angeles Times. “The research is very clear that kids who enroll in kindergarten are better prepared academically and socially for school in first grade, and more likely to be reading with proficiency by third grade.”