Vowing to make
Illinois the top state in the nation for child care accessibility, Gov. JB
Pritzker unveiled a plan Oct. 24 to consolidate all the state’s early childhood
programs and funding into one new state agency.
“Early childhood program governance has to be unified in its
focus on serving children and families, easing the burden on providers and
promoting equity,” Pritzker said at a news conference in Chicago. “Other states
like Colorado, New Mexico, Massachusetts and Georgia, among others, have already
created a unified state agency solely dedicated to early childhood. It’s time
for Illinois to do the same.”
Currently, the state’s early childhood services are spread
across three state agencies. The Illinois State Board of Education administers
early childhood block grants, which help fund preschool programs in areas with
limited access to them. The Department of Human Services administers programs
that subsidize the cost of child care services, home visits and early
intervention services for lower-income families. And the Department of Children
and Family Services oversees licensing day care providers.
“Anybody, as a parent, who has tried to go through the system of
getting everything that you need – from home visiting, to early intervention
services, to child care, to preschool, some accessing all four of those things
– knows that it is an impossible bureaucracy to try to access all of those
things,” Pritzker said. “I mean … it’s at least a half-time job to just do
those things, to find those services. And we need to make it so much easier.”
Pritzker made the announcement on the opening day of the General
Assembly’s fall veto session. To start the multiyear process, he signed an
executive order instructing existing agencies to reorganize certain functions
to prepare for the potential consolidation, but he said he will work with
lawmakers on legislation to formalize the process in the spring.
In the meantime, he named Ann Whalen to serve as transition
director for the consolidation process. She has worked the last two years as
policy director for the education advocacy group Advance Illinois and
previously worked in the U.S. Department of Education during the Obama
administration.
Pritzker also announced he is forming an external advisory
committee that will gather input from stakeholders in preparation of the
consolidation proposal. That committee will be chaired by Bela Moté, CEO of the
Carole Robertson Center for Learning, one of the largest early childhood and
youth development organizations in Chicago.
Pritzker said the idea for the consolidation grew out of
an Early Childhood Funding Commission he established in 2019 to study and make
recommendations on ways to provide equitable access to high-quality early
childhood education and care services for children birth to age five. Among
that group’s recommendations was a call to consolidate all early childhood
programs into a single new agency.
Last spring, state lawmakers approved a budget for the current
fiscal year that included a $250 million increase in funding for early
childhood programs. That initiative, which Pritzker called Smart Start
Illinois, included a $75 million increase in early childhood block grants; $130
million to stabilize wages for child care workers; a $40 million increase for
early intervention programs; and $5 million to expand the IDHS home visiting
program.
Other investments the state is making in early childhood programs
include $100 million in capital funding to build new preschools and day care
centers and expand existing ones; $70 million for the Child Care Assistance
Program; $12 million in funding for scholarships and apprenticeships to grow
the child care workforce; and $1.6 million to launch the Dolly Parton
Imagination Library.
State Superintendent of Education Tony Sanders said those
investments will pay dividends as the children receiving those services advance
through school and into adulthood.
“The research is unequivocal that funding high-quality early
learning is one of the best investments we can make as a state,” he said.
“Increasing access to preschool leads to stronger social, economic and life
outcomes for all students.”
Contact Peter Hancock
at phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com. Capitol News Illinois reporter Andrew Adams contributed to this
story.
This article appears in Best Of Springfield 2023.
