The fight to secure more funding for high-quality early education in Pennsylvania has a new ally: the state’s kindergarten teachers. A survey by the Pennsylvania State Education Association found nearly unanimous support for publicly funded pre-kindergarten education among the union’s members who teach children that age. The results were released Tuesday by Pre-K for PA, a coalition of educators and education advocates that seeks to expand access to early education programs for Pennsylvania’s preschool-age children. Members of the campaign appeared at Hamilton Elementary School in Carlisle, Cumberland County on Tuesday to tout the findings of the survey and call for additional funding for early education programs. Ninety-six percent of the teachers surveyed by PSEA agree that students who attend pre-K are more prepared for kindergarten, they said. In addition, 98 percent said that high-quality, publicly funded pre-K is an important tool for preparing at-risk children for kindergarten.

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