With the close of Fiscal Year 2023, Start Early’s Illinois Policy team ended our inaugural, multi-year policy agenda. In launching that agenda, we wanted to try to capture the breadth of the work we do with our state and local elected officials and agencies to continuously strengthen and improve our early childhood programs, strengthen the early childhood workforce and to improve access to economic and health supports that we know are so critical for children and families to thrive. That agenda launched in the early months of not only a new governor’s term, but also a global pandemic.

Despite the strange mix of both hopefulness and uncertainty of that year, our team was focused on the kinds of change and progress we wanted to see for our state’s children and families – both now and in the years to come. Over those years, thanks to the leadership of Governor Pritzker and the members of the Illinois General Assembly, along with the tenacious advocacy of the early childhood community, we’ve seen:

• Increased investments in early childhood programs* lifting our state commitment from just over $1 billion in FY21 to more than $1.5 billion in FY24.
• A blueprint to re-imagine the early childhood system to ensure that families can find the services they want and need, and that those supports are available equitably across Illinois.
• Use of federal COVID-relief funding to not only to respond to the unique needs of the pandemic, but also to lay the groundwork for changes toward the state’s long-term vision.
• Increased attention towards better supporting the early childhood workforce for the critical work they do.
• Efforts to ensure that our programs are able to enroll and serve families who too often face systemic barriers to participation – such as children with delays or disabilities, who are experiencing homelessness or who might come from a home where languages other than English are the primary.

Despite all of that progress, there is much work to do. We need to continue toward this new vision of our system, but recognize how many serious challenges are being experienced daily in early childhood programs – particularly to attract and retain folks into the early childhood workforce. The child care business model was already fraught before the pandemic. There is a great need for stronger federal partnership and funding to help states advance their early learning goals.

Our team was proud to lead and significantly contribute to so many advances over the past few years – and in our new multi-year agenda will lay out some of the key priorities of work yet to be done. We have a short window in the first five years to help children launch into school and life with the strongest foundation possible – opportunities are in front of us and we owe it to our youngest learners to do what we know needs to be done.

* Early Childhood Block Grant, Home Visiting, Early Intervention and the Child Care Assistance Program and the Early Childhood Construction Grant

Earlier today, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker announced the creation of a new, unified state agency focused on early childhood. This major undertaking, which will take place over several years, aims to simplify and streamline how families access critical early learning and care services – by better aligning and coordinating programs, data and policies.

Across the country, families with young children and those who care for them continue to navigate a complex, fragmented and under-resourced early care and learning system, making it challenging to meet the diverse needs of communities.

Illinois leaders and stakeholders have called for an early childhood agency that can more efficiently and equitably manage the range of services that young children and families need to thrive, and we are prepared and ready to design and implement this new governance structure with success.

For decades, Illinois has been a leader in prioritizing policies and investments that put children and families first and has built a robust early childhood system through deep public and private engagement, helping to ensure services reflect what families and providers need and value. This long history gives the current administration lessons to build upon and partnerships to harness as this new agency is designed and launched.

Start Early is excited to offer its longstanding experiences directly providing early childhood services and informing policy in Illinois as state leaders embark on this historic transformation of the governance and design of our early learning and care system.

“Today, the governor presented a unique, historic pledge to redesign and transform how we serve Illinois families with young children,” Start Early Vice President of Illinois Policy Ireta Gasner shares. “Start Early is eager to be a collaborator in this work. We know that we will have greater success when we bring the voices of the early childhood community alongside our government partners in this effort.”

As the backbone organization of Raising Illinois, a statewide public-private coalition of more than 1,400 parents, providers, advocates and policymakers working to achieve a better future for Illinois’ infants and toddlers, we have seen the power of what Illinoisans can contribute in driving transformational change. It will take the experiences of those on-the-ground in communities across the state for such a notable, positive and sustainable change to be made to our state’s early childhood infrastructure.

While the transition team works to establish the new agency, it remains critical for us to stay committed to the multi-year investments and program improvements outlined in the governor’s Smart Start plan. We must approve and implement substantial annual investments in all early childhood program to address early childhood workforce shortages and waiting lists for services, and to expand services to where families face disparities in accessing programs they need to work and for their children to thrive.

“The first five years of a child’s life are the most important for positive health and development, and our youngest Illinoisans are growing and learning right now,” Start Early President Diana Rauner states. “So, as we look toward this brighter future for how we serve Illinois families, Start Early remains steadfast in its efforts to reach more families with quality early learning experiences through transformational policies, investments and research.”

Next week, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) is holding the first two of its three fall budget hearings, the first step in determining next year’s proposed education budget for the state. These hearings provide the early childhood advocacy community an opportunity to help shape the state’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget proposal. Please consider participating *virtually or in-person * in requesting a $75 million increase in state funding for the Early Childhood Block Grant (ECBG) and to continue and grow the $5 million investment to improve inclusion supports for children with disabilities and developmental delays.

Here’s how you can participate in the ISBE budget hearing process:

1. Visit ISBE.net/BudgetRequestForm, and enter your name and contact information.
2. Choose the hearing you’ll attend or select the option for submitting a written testimony. Written requests must be received by ISBE no later than Oct. 31.
3. Under the “Add Program Request” drop-down menu select “Early Childhood Education”
4. Enter $75,000,000.00 under the “Additional Requested Funding” section.
5. Under the field that begins with “Please provide the Board with a description of your funding request,” you will need to put further detail on the $75 million ask.

Upcoming Budget Hearings:

• Oct. 3, 4-7 p.m. CT (In-person in Springfield)
  Must submit a written funding request online by Sept. 28
• Oct. 5, 4-7 p.m. CT (Virtual)
  Registration deadline is Oct. 2 at 11:59 p.m.
  
• Oct. 30, 1-4 p.m. CT (Virtual)
  Registration deadline is Oct. 25 at 11:59 p.m.

General Tips to Testify at ISBE’s Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Hearings:

• Use your time wisely as oral testimony is being limited to three (3) minutes per person.
• Be sure to personalize your testimony with your own perspective.
• Compose your testimony with an introduction, early childhood needs, the $75 million ask and conclusion.
• Use your own words as much as possible, for variety and authenticity.

Contact us if you plan to testify or have questions. Thank you for speaking up for children and families across the state!

Late summer marks the beginning of the return-to-school season for K-12 teachers across the country. Yet within the early learning field, child care educators work year-round providing care for our youngest learners while earning low wages and working under difficult conditions.

According to 2021 survey data from the Illinois Network of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, the median wage for early childhood assistant teachers was $12.00 per hour and for early childhood lead teachers, the median wage was $14.29.¹ In terms of benefits, only approximately half of centers are able to offer health insurance.¹ Not only is compensation abysmally low, but child care teachers work long hours to reflect the unique care schedules of families.

July marked the beginning of the City of Chicago’s annual budget process, the first for Mayor Brandon Johnson. The City’s new administration has made clear their commitment to K-12 education and they are advocating for increasing quality learning opportunities and supports for all students. It’s our hope that the Mayor and City Council will consider including Chicago’s early childhood care and education system in their education and health priorities. Many early childhood programs in Chicago received a much needed influx of investment from ARPA relief dollars to help stabilize and support their programs. However, many of those funds will come to a cliff in the next few years. Now is the time to increase local investment to support Chicago families and follow in the State’s footsteps of prioritizing early childhood education in the budget.

Chicago’s new mayor, Brandon Johnson, has taken office at a pivotal time for shaping the future of Chicago’s early care and education system. Last week, the Illinois General Assembly passed the Fiscal Year 2024 budget, which includes an historic $300 million increase in statewide investments in the state’s core early care and education supports for families with young children. Much of this funding will benefit the over 200,000 children ages birth-5 in the city.

Outlined below are just some of the most notable impacts of Illinois’ newest budget on Chicago’s youngest learners and those who support their healthy development and education.

EARLY CHILDHOOD BLOCK GRANT: $75 Million Increase

Governor Pritzker’s Smart Start plan includes a welcome increase of $75 million (12.5%) in state funding for preschool, evidence-based home visiting services and center-based infant-toddler programs funded by the Early Childhood Block Grant (ECBG) at the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). As is required by state statute, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) will receive 37% of this increase, which translates to roughly $27.75 million.

Of this allocated funding, CPS has traditionally held on to 60% to fund their school-based pre-Kindergarten (pre-K) programs and sub-granted the remaining 40% to Chicago’s Department of Family and Support Services (DFSS), which are used to fund home visiting and center-based services in community-based programs. This breaks down to roughly $16.65 million more in funding directly for CPS’ pre-K programs and an additional $11.1 million in funding for DFSS-funded community-based early childhood programs.

With Chicago Public Schools recently having achieved universal pre-k for all 4 year-olds in the city, Start Early urges the district to consider how these additional funds coming to the city can support the infrastructure for these pre-k slots, including growing the early childhood workforce, targeting supports for children with disabilities and English learners and strengthening the birth-3 care pipeline that lays the foundation for later success in school.

EARLY INTERVENTION: $40 Million Increase

This astounding 34.5% increase in state funding for Early Intervention (EI) comes at a time when Chicago families continue to experience decreased access to services and long waitlists for children ages 0-3 with disabilities, due to a shortage in the EI workforce. These funds will be used to issue a much-needed 10% rate increase for EI providers beginning July 1, 2023.

EARLY CHILDHOOD INCLUSION: $5 Million in New Funding

Through the state budget, the Illinois State Board of Education will receive $5 million in brand-new funding directed toward supporting inclusion in schools and community-based early childhood settings for preschoolers with disabilities and developmental delays. Chicago Public Schools and Chicago’s six federal Head Start grant recipients have already been working together over the last year to build a plan for ensuring that children with disabilities who are enrolled in community-based early childhood programs have access to inclusive special education services in the least restrictive environment. This new ISBE funding signals a commitment to supporting the statewide infrastructure that makes efforts like the one in Chicago possible.

Early Saturday morning, the Illinois General Assembly approved the state’s Fiscal Year 2024 (FY 2024) spending plan, which contains historic investments in the early care and education system, including proposed measures outlined in Governor J.B. Pritzker’s multi-year Smart Start Illinois plan.

Start Early is thrilled that the final budget contains nearly $300 million in new state funding for child care, preschool, home visiting, the Early Intervention (EI) program, and inclusion supports for preschoolers with disabilities and developmental delays.

“Today is a remarkable day for young Illinoisans and their families,” Start Early Vice President of Illinois Policy Ireta Gasner said. “The General Assembly passed a budget that directs significant state funding to a set of bedrock early childhood programs families know, benefit from and love. We thank the legislature for funding the first year of Governor Pritzker’s Smart Start Illinois plan, and we stand ready to work with the administration and the General Assembly to continue building and strengthening the early childhood system Illinois children and families deserve.” 

With these dollars, more families will gain the access they need to critical early learning programs, and many in the early childhood workforce will see long-overdue increases in pay. Early Intervention providers, for instance, will receive a 10% rate increase come July 1, 2023, and the administration has promised to issue grants to child care providers that will allow them to increase salaries for teachers and staff. The state will also have new resources to further strengthen and expand its nation-leading system of home visiting services. Along with the creation of thousands of new preschool slots in schools and child care centers throughout Illinois, communities will be able to use additional education funding to further deepen services for families with infants and toddlers, like home visiting. 

Here are the specifics:

• $170 million (41.4%) increase for the child care system at IDHS
• $75 million (12.5%) increase for the Early Childhood Block Grant at ISBE
• $40 million (34.5%) increase for the Early Intervention (EI) program at IDHS
• $5 million (27.9%) increase for evidence-based home visiting programs at IDHS
• $5 million in brand-new funding at ISBE to support inclusion in schools and community-based early childhood settings for preschoolers with disabilities and developmental delays
• $50 million in new, one-time funding from the Build Illinois fund for the Early Childhood Construction Grant (ECCG) program (though in an unexpected policy change with which we disagree, funds will be directed only to school districts in FY 2024)

Several other important measures impacting the early care and education system – and the families and workforce who are a part of it – have been approved by the legislature this session, including:

• HB3817 (Rep. Gordon-Booth, Sen. Sims), the FY24 budget implementation bill, which:
  • Makes permanent the current income eligibility threshold (225% of FPL) for the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP)
  • Establishes in law parts of the governor’s Smart Start Illinois plan,
• SB1794 (Sen. Pacione-Zayas, Rep. Ortiz) – establishes in law the existing IDHS home visiting programs
• SB2390 (Sen. Pacione-Zayas, Rep. West) – among other changes to address teacher vacancies in the state, extends for five years the current staffing flexibility that allows early childhood educators with a Level 5 from Gateways to Opportunity to teach in a Preschool For All classroom provided they are working to secure their teaching license
• HB2396 (Rep. Canty, Sen. Lightford) – requires each school board to establish a developmentally appropriate full-day kindergarten program by the 2027-2028 school year

We expect the Governor to sign and approve this final budget package soon. 

This suite of policy changes and funding increases was made possible by the commitment and diligent efforts of advocates across the state! Throughout the spring legislative session, parents, educators and advocates contacted state legislators thousands of times on behalf of Illinois families and those who serve them. We encourage you to reach back out to Governor Pritzker and your elected officials to thank them for prioritizing early childhood programs and services that set up our youngest learners for health and success in school and in life. 

Lee la declaración en español

The Governor’s multi-year Smart Start Illinois proposal includes important and unprecedented increases to home visiting programs: a $75 million proposed increase to the Early Childhood Block Grant (ECBG) under the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), which includes the Prevention Initiative home visiting program, as well as a $5 million increase to the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) home visiting programs. Passage of the Governor’s proposed fiscal year 2024 budget and implementation of Smart Start Illinois will have a significant impact on home visiting services in Illinois by bolstering supports to recruit and retain a diverse and highly-qualified workforce and dramatically expanding the reach of programs to serve more children and families.

Illinois has a long and robust history of supporting home visiting services as a key pillar in the continuum of infant/early childhood services that strengthen the caregiver-child relationship and connect families to vital community resources to support long-term healthy development and well-being. Annually, Illinois serves an estimated 22,000 families across multiple home visiting models supported by a mix of state and federal funding streams. But we know that more families could benefit from these services, and that the home visiting workforce is at a crisis point with low wages driving turnover, which impacts family retention.

Start Early recommends that increased funds should be used to raise wages for home visitors to sustainable and respectful levels, as well as expand program access, particularly for prenatal and doula services and improve access to these services for families with infants and toddlers. As ISBE and IDHS work to grow the reach of programs, funding should also be used for capacity building or a separate funding opportunity to help start new programs in needed areas, as well as for supports, such as Infant/Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation, and enhancements for programs serving priority populations.

Ms. Clarissa Sepulveda, a Chicago Public Schools Pre-K Diverse Learner Teacher at Rodolfo Lozano School, left her previous job as an educator and early intervention provider at a community-based early learning program because she could earn more working in schools.

“First of all, the support at community-based programs is not enough. Our ratio was always super high, the stress was immense for the pay we would get. And you’re talking about people who have so many degrees. I started with my Associate’s, then Bachelor’s, Bilingual Endorsement, Special Education Endorsement. No matter what you got, it didn’t matter.” – Ms. Clarissa Sepulveda

Now, as a school Diverse Learner Teacher, Ms. Sepulveda and her colleagues also constantly witness the lack of support priority populations (e.g., English Learners and students with disabilities) receive in preschool classrooms. To address this and other issues, Governor Pritzker proposed the multi-year Smart Start Illinois plan that will provide an additional $75 million in fiscal year 2024 (FY24) for the Early Childhood Block Grant, a program administered by the Illinois State Board of Education.

The Early Childhood Block Grant provides support for the Preschool for All, Preschool for All Extension, and Prevention Initiative programs. The additional funds will help the state continue increasing compensation and providing support for the early childhood workforce, particularly those employed by community-based organizations or working with infants and toddlers. It will also target child care deserts and will create five thousand new preschool slots. Families and providers across the state have been demanding for more child care and preschool access, and this investment will help create the additional slots needed for more diverse learners, like the students Ms. Sepulveda cares for day in, day out. But supporting and properly compensating the workforce who will care for our children is of top priority. Learn more about how Smart Start will address the workforce compensation issues for community-based providers.

In early February, Governor Pritzker announced Smart Start Illinois, his administration’s proposal to make the largest investments in early care and education that the field has seen in a generation. The proposal includes $100 million in funding to build new and expand current child care facilities, an additional $50 million for the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP), and $130 million to enhance wages for the workforce through child care contracts.

Although Start Early is grateful for the Governor’s renewed attention to child care to begin his second term – we simply cannot stop at Smart Start’s investments because in the long-term, this funding is not sufficient to create a robust child care system that works for all children and families in Illinois. Far too many families across the state cannot access child care, much less high-quality care, due to its exorbitant cost and the lack of available classroom slots. According to Start Early’s Infant & Toddler Child Care Roadmap report, licensed child care centers have the capacity to care for only 17.4% of the state’s infants and toddlers.

The earliest years in a child’s life are the most critical years for brain development, yet infant/toddler child care is by far the most difficult type of care to secure in Illinois. It is the most expensive form of care due to low teacher-child ratios (1:4) and it’s often not seen as desirable work because of its physical nature and very low pay. In fact, infant/toddler teachers throughout the state are typically paid less than their peers. Teachers who care for our youngest learners deserve better and unless we raise teacher salaries, we will not have the workforce to increase child care slots.