U.S Latinos Believe Education is an Important Issue

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According to a report conducted by the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, the majority of the nation’s Latinos believe that education is one of our country’s most important issues.

Entitled “Latino Perspectives on K-12 Education & School Choice,” the report revealed a number of important discoveries, mainly that education was second only to the economy and jobs as the most important issue Americans currently face. Education was also more of an important issue to Latinos than immigration.

Latinos surveyed covered a range of education topics, including charter schools, standardized testing, school vouchers, and educational spending. In terms of K-12 education, approximately 53% of the Latinos surveyed felt that it was heading in the “wrong direction,” compared to only 38% who felt it was going in the “right direction.”

Those surveyed were also found to give higher marks to the private schools in their community (82%) than to the public schools (50%). Nearly half also chose private schools as the ideal educational choice for their children. The U.S. enrollment figures, however, do not match the report as the vast majority of Latino K-12 students attend public school.

For charter schools, the Latinos surveyed found that over 60% were in favor of them and when it comes to school vouchers, over 70% favored those.

The report also suggested that Latino voters were most likely to cast their ballot for a candidate if they have affirming positions on school vouchers, education savings accounts (ESAs), and were in favor of the Common Core State Standards.