Over the weekend, the Illinois General Assembly approved a Fiscal Year 2026 state budget that includes a substantial increase in funding for the state’s child care system. Unfortunately, the spending plan maintains current funding levels for other critical early childhood programs – a departure from the multi-year investments pledged by Governor JB Pritzker in 2023 as part of the administration’s Smart Start Illinois initiative. We expect the governor to sign and approve this final budget package soon.
“Start Early commends Governor Pritzker and the General Assembly for their continued commitments to ensure Illinois families have the resources they need to thrive,” Start Early Illinois’ Executive Director Celena Sarillo said. “Although this final budget does not include all of the early childhood funding for which families and providers advocated, we are ready to work with policymakers, advocates and families this upcoming year to continue expanding access and strengthening programs and services, like preschool, home visiting and Early Intervention, that give children their best chance at success in school and in life.”
The budget package contains $85 million in new state funding for the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) and $90 million in new funding for Smart Start Workforce Grants (SSWG). The CCAP dollars will allow the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) to raise reimbursement rates for home providers while accommodating a growing caseload and avoiding harmful waitlists and delayed payments. Additional funding for the SSWG program enables IDHS to maintain existing grants to programs.
Start Early is disappointed by the decision to flat-fund the Early Childhood Block Grant (ECBG), the Maternal and Child Home Visiting (MCHV) program and the Early Intervention (EI) program despite an earlier commitment from the Pritzker Administration to increase spending on the programs in FY26 as part of its original Smart Start Illinois plan.
“Amid an uncertain and evolving federal landscape, Start Early is grateful that our state’s leaders remained focused on moving forward a balanced budget that aims to protect Illinois communities first and supports families and those who care for them,” Start Early Vice President of Illinois Policy Ireta Gasner said. “However, additional funding is needed to ensure timely services for infants and toddlers with disabilities and developmental delays and a well-prepared and compensated workforce – both of which are foundations of an equitable early childhood system. This budget is a small step forward, but much is left to be done.”
Notably, in April, IDHS announced a rate increase for Early Intervention providers, which is to be funded by accumulated Medicaid dollars. The rate increase, informed by the new EI cost model and service delay data, prioritizes service providers with reimbursement rates currently below 50% of the modeled cost. While the administration’s plan to increase rates for many providers next year is a welcome one, the increase represents only a fraction of what is needed to stabilize the EI system. As such, we are disappointed with the final appropriation for EI, as we believe the approved budget is inadequate to address the ongoing workforce crisis and distressingly high service delays.
Here are the specifics of what’s in the final package:
- $85 million increase for the Child Care Assistance Program at the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) for caseload growth and rate increases for home providers
- $90 million increase for the Smart Start Workforce Grants at IDHS to replace expiring federal funds
- Early Intervention provider rate increase (learn more)
- $7.5 million increase in operations funding for the Illinois Department of Early Childhood
No additional funding for the following programs was included:
- The Early Childhood Block Grant at the Illinois State Board of Education, which supports the state’s Prevention Initiative, Preschool for All and Preschool for All Expansion programs
- The Early Intervention program at IDHS
- Evidence-based home visiting programs at IDHS
- The Early Childhood Access Consortium for Equity (ECACE) scholarship program
These legislative victories and increased appropriations were achieved only because of the unwavering dedication of parents, providers, and advocates across Illinois. With substantial work still needed to close critical funding gaps for programs like EI and ECACE, we look forward to continuing the work of making Illinois the best state in America in which to raise young children.
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Several other important measures impacting the early care and education system – and the families and workforce who are a part of it – were approved by the legislature this session, including:
- HB3439 (Rep. Mason, Sen. Johnson) – improves basic child care licensing functions in the short-term by codifying into law existing DCFS guidance regarding provisional hiring and requiring staff background checks to be completed every five years instead of every three years.
- HB3327 (Rep. Yang Rohr, Sen. Villivalam) – improves the Early Intervention (EI) referral process for babies born into a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) by requiring hospital staff to initiate a written referral for families whose children are automatically eligible for EI services.
- SB1555 (Sen. Loughran Cappel, Rep. Hirschauer) – adds the Secretary of the Illinois Department of Early Childhood (IDEC) as an ex-officio voting member to the Advisory Council on the Education of Children with Disabilities
- HB3446 (Rep. Canty, Sen. Loughran Cappel) – requires IDEC to publish and update annually a comprehensive list of college early childhood courses child care teacher and director candidates can take to meet required qualifications. The bill also requires IDEC to create a process to verify which early childhood courses make the list.
- SB406 (Sen. Aquino, Rep. Mason) – requires IDEC to establish an Early Childhood Integrated Data System (ECIDS) that will be used to make equity driven, inclusive, and data-informed decisions within the early childhood system.
- SB2437 (Sen. Aquino, Rep. Moeller) – the Medicaid omnibus, which includes language that requires hospitals and birthing centers to allow patients to have Medicaid-approved doulas present during all phases of labor and birth. The doula will not count toward the number of guests permitted to a patient.
