The Illinois Policy Team at Start Early is pleased to release our annual Illinois Legislative Agenda, a snapshot of the budget requests and legislative priorities for which Start Early will be advocating during the spring 2025 legislative session in the state.
With the new legislative session underway, our team is focused on moving forward funding requests and legislation that will support families and providers across our early childhood system.
Our goals for the year include:
- Increasing funding for the Early Intervention (EI) program, maternal and child home visiting programs, the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP), the Early Childhood Block Grant (ECBG) and the Early Childhood Access Consortium for Equity (ECACE)
- Supporting legislation to improve the licensing process for child care providers
- Supporting legislation to create an advisory committee on preschool special education
- Supporting legislation to creating the Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program