Statements
Please find our latest statements below.
Advance Illinois Statement on the Executive Order to Dismantle the U.S. Department of Education
CHICAGO (March 20, 2025)—The United States Department of Education is responsible for key functions impacting Illinois students’ ability to access high-quality, safe, and supportive learning environments from K-12 through postsecondary. Accordingly, it is important that the public be aware of today’s Executive Order seeking to abolish the federal agency. It is easy to criticize federal agencies and bureaucracies, and there is (always) room for improvement. But the call to eliminate the Department of Education in its entirety is another thing entirely. Indeed, it is hard not to see this action – taken in conjunction with other dramatic measures, as a concerted effort to undermine public education and many hard-won and ongoing efforts to ensure our education system works for every child and student.
The underlying message of today’s action seems to be (1) that the federal government does not have a role to play in education, and/or (2) that this role is insignificant enough to be managed effectively across a half dozen different agencies and with minimal staff, and/or (3) that all children are equally well-positioned to succeed, so there is no need to support high-need populations. But let’s be clear: overwhelming research and data tell us these assumptions are misguided. What do high-performing countries (like Finland, Sweden and Norway) have in common in the education space? A coordinated national approach that includes clear, consistent expectations for what students learn, robust data and research to support strong practice, and strong financial support to ensure schools, childcare centers, and universities are available for all, and that they provide rich and rigorous opportunity. This measure and others are turning the clock back on those principles.
It should go without saying that we all benefit when all children thrive. But the evidence is clear – not all students are succeeding. And while this administration seems to want to place the blame on the children themselves, evidence makes plain that all students can achieve if they get the instruction and support they need. While we may wish it were otherwise, students do not arrive at schools and colleges with the same set of needs. Some students face poverty. Others are living with disabilities. Others face prejudice for their background, race, ethnicity, gender or religion. And still others live in remote areas with limited access to technology and services the rest of us take for granted. We are a country that, at its best, has worked – sometimes imperfectly – to give every child an opportunity – recognizing that that it is not only the right thing to do, but that doing so strengthens families, communities and, ultimately, the country as a whole.
“To take this step at all, and especially now, when mountains of data point to slow but gradual progress in climbing back from COVID-related disruptions, highlights the administration’s disregard for its citizens, even as it flouts the legislative process,” notes Robin Steans, President of Advance Illinois, an independent, bipartisan nonprofit education policy and advocacy organization.
In just a matter of weeks, the new administration has taken a number of steps to set back decades of work to support student progress and close racial, socioeconomic, regional, and generational gaps in academic opportunity and achievement.
The administration's order “Ending radical indoctrination in K-12 schooling” issued in January not only misunderstands and misstates constitutional law, but seems designed to intimidate educators working to meet the needs of diverse students into ignoring the fact that students arrive at school with unique needs. Under the order’s threat of withholding funding, some schools have pulled back preemptively from efforts to foster rigorous, safe, and supportive learning environments that meet the needs of students from all backgrounds and experiences.
When the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cut nearly $900 million in Institute of Education Sciences (IES) contracts and cut NCES down to 3 employees, it slashed the arms of the Education Department responsible for collecting data, conducting research and analysis, and reporting on student progress and performance – activities key to driving coherent and effective education practice and policy at every level and in every corner of the country, reversing investments made by a bipartisan set of administrations for over a century.
Last week’s dramatic mass layoffs at the Department crowded out ongoing discourse and concern about the infamous ‘Dear Colleague Letter’ - a communication with no force of law, but one littered with misleading assertions of what constitutes violations of federal civil rights protections and that again threatened to withhold federal funding if institutions do not comply with restrictions that have no basis in law. The letter has created confusion and alarm, with the clear intent to halt practices that acknowledge the simple reality that students come to school with a range of learning styles and needs, and that educators and schools are and should work hard to address them so that every student succeeds. [Read guidance from Attorneys General from a range of states on how best to understand and respond to the “Dear Colleague” letter sent on February 14th.]
Finally, today, the White House issued an Executive Order directing Sec. McMahon to take "all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return education authority to the States” - a direction that misunderstands that education authority already sits primarily with states.
The new administration’s mission is increasingly, and tragically, clear.
On average, the federal government provides roughly 12% of overall K-12 funding in Illinois, with higher-poverty schools and districts relying more heavily on those dollars. While spokespeople are claiming that efforts to dismantle the Department of Education will not impact services or programs (presumably other than those that have already been cut or targeted), it defies credulity that such significant layoffs will have no impact in the field.
Those who care about public education and about the next generation should be alarmed, and that alarm should motivate action. The stakes are critical and high. The United States has enjoyed outsized prosperity driven by having one of the most educated populations in the world. Sadly, we have been losing ground internationally, a trend that should concern us all and that is entirely at odds with recent actions. All of us benefit when the next generation is well-cared for and educated. Ours is a responsibility to make sure families have access to affordable high-quality early childhood education and care for their young children; that our under-resourced schools – prevalent in both urban and rural parts of our country and state – are supported to meet the academic and learning needs of students enrolled; and that students with limited family wealth can afford to earn degrees that improve their employment opportunities and earnings. That worthy and ambitious goal takes national coherence and national effort, even as it champions and supports ongoing state authority.
For our part, we will work with state elected officials and state and national partners to continue to fight for access, quality, and equity in education. Changes happening at the federal level matter, but they cannot and should not change our core values. Our mission remains clear – we need schools that work for every child and student.
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About Advance Illinois
Advance Illinois is an independent policy and advocacy organization working toward a healthy public education system that enables all students to achieve success in college, career, and civic life.
Advance Illinois Applauds State’s Establishment of a Unified Agency for Early Childhood
Today, Advance Illinois applauds Governor Pritzker for signing the historic SB1 into law, creating the state’s first Department of Early Childhood. This new agency will unify early childhood programs and services, establishing a system that is easier for families and providers to navigate and enhancing the state’s ability to identify and address gaps and challenges.
“This is truly an historic moment for the state and its children! The new agency will enable the state to focus more efficiently, effectively, and strategically on how best to serve Illinois's youngest learners and families,” said Robin Steans, President of Advance Illinois. “This will help give every child from birth through age 5 a strong start to thrive well into the future.”
Last fall, the field celebrated the Governor’s vision for a single unified agency as overdue and deeply needed. In the Commission on Equitable Early Childhood Education and Care's 2021 report, the group described the burdensome nature of delivering early childhood programs and services out of three separate agencies— the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS), Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), and Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). As outlined by Early Childhood Transition Director Ann Whalen, bringing early childhood’s governance into one structure will reduce burdens and complexity for providers and parents; create greater access to quality providers in all regions of the state; and expand access to support more children in achieving kindergarten readiness.
Early childhood programs and services will continue to be administered through their respective legacy agencies until July 1, 2026. In the interim, the newly-formed department will use its Transition Advisory Committee to engage parents and providers in understanding what changes the new agency can and should consider to reduce burdens and improve services and outcomes.
Advance Illinois celebrates the administration and members of the General Assembly, including Senate Leader Kimberly A. Lightford, Representative Mary Beth Canty, and Representative Joyce Mason for their leadership in stewarding this important step forward for Illinois families with young children. By addressing the structural issues related to program and service delivery in early childhood, Illinois is centering the needs of families and providers with a larger vision in mind: to provide equitable and coherent access to high-quality early childhood education and care for all Illinois children from birth to age five. Advance Illinois looks forward to supporting the administration in the agency’s launch and continued collaboration with partners to ensure its success in transforming the early childhood education and care ecosystem in Illinois.
Put simply, said Steans, “Governor Pritzker pledged to make Illinois the best state in the nation to raise a family. The creation of a new Department of Early Childhood is another important step in making good on that promise.”
Advance Illinois Full Statement on Equitable Funding Commission Recommendations
Advance Illinois applauds the Commission on Equitable Public University for releasing a blueprint for how Illinois can realize an adequate, equitable, and sustainable approach to support its public universities.
“This blueprint represents more than two years of analyzing the complexities of higher education funding,” said Robin Steans, President of Advance Illinois and a member of the Commission. “These recommendations reflect deep research, analysis and listening to the field undertaken by Commissioners, and we think this charts a strong, equitable path forward for students and the institutions that serve them.”
Established in 2021, the Commission was created by PA 102-0570 in response to significant disparities in college access, affordability, and degree attainment that exist across universities, and across demographic lines of geography, race, ethnicity, and income. The 33-member Commission of agency heads, legislators, university leaders, and community partners were charged with developing a model for funding the state’s public universities in an adequate, equitable, and stable manner. As rightly highlighted in the Illinois Board of Higher Education’s strategic plan (A Thriving Illinois), such an approach is fundamental to cultivating a healthier university system where strong outcomes follow sufficient, equitable, and predictable state investment in institutions.
Under the proposed new approach, the state would use a new methodology to determine how much funding each institution needs to serve its student population and run its unique set of programs. Once this “adequacy target” has been identified, new state funds would be directed to the state's public universities in an effort to help those institutions furthest from adequacy close those gaps. According to the report, this new approach:
Determines for each institution a unique funding level based on its students' needs, mission, and variety of programs.
Encourages greater access and success for historically underrepresented students.
Provides a funding increase to every institution when new dollars are invested.
Ensures institutions have flexibility to invest in ways that best serve their students.
Incentivizes institutions to reduce reliance on student tuition and increases state investment.
Distributes new funding equitably and according to need.
Calls for transparency and increased accountability as institutions get closer to adequate funding.
With the Commission recommendations now submitted to the General Assembly, the next stage of this work begins. Higher education continues to create powerful opportunities for students and for states. Advance Illinois urges Governor Pritzker and legislators to move with intent to translate the Commission’s recommendations into action. In doing so, Illinois will set the standard for investing in its people and its future.
“The research continues to affirm that earning a college degree is a game changer for families, communities, and the state,” Steans said. “Supporting investments and evidence-based policy actions that allow every student, regardless of race and income, to access the intergenerational benefits of a college degree is an investment our state cannot afford not to make.”