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 Statement Regarding FY25 Budget

The Illinois General Assembly today passed a budget for FY25 that considers education but leaves gaps in key areas of need for children, students, and the systems designed to support them. 

“If budgets reflect priorities, it is clear that the General Assembly understands the importance of investing in the next generation, even as it has left some important work undone,” said Robin Steans, President of Advance Illinois.  

Taking Steps Forward in Improving Illinois’ Early Childhood System with Glaring Opportunities for More Strategic Investment 

Learning begins at birth and sets the course for a child’s long-term growth and development, so we are pleased that the legislature continues to prioritize early childhood programs. The new budget provides increases for critical early childhood programs such as the Early Childhood Block Grant, home visiting, and Smart Start workforce grants. That said, still greater investment is needed for programs such as Early Intervention, which ensures families can access key services for young children who are at risk of or experiencing developmental delays.  

As we celebrate the passage of SB1, which creates the Department of Early Childhood and the $14.2 million appropriated to fund its first year, we challenge legislators to do more to grow the pipeline into the early childhood profession in order to realize progress and impact. The state’s $5 million investment in ECACE, a scholarship program that helps working adults access higher education and complete early childhood education degrees and credentials, is simply not enough. Indeed, the investment – far short of the $28.6 million agencies requested – will leave roughly 2,400 early childhood educators without financial support to complete their programs. This, to say the least, is an incredible missed opportunity: Diminished funding for this scholarship runs counter to the state’s significant efforts to support a stronger, more equitable system that reaches more children and families! 

Strengthening Opportunities and Outcomes in Higher Education 

This spring, Illinois continued efforts to expand access to earning a college degree in-state, but they were decidedly more muted. The legislature’s measured 1% increase to MAP ($10M) and 2% increase to institutional general operating funding (nearly $40M) follow more significant increases in recent years. We hope and expect that greater increases are ahead, including when the state adopts a more adequate, equitable, and stable funding formula, as recommended by the Commission for Equitable Public University Funding. 

Supporting K-12 School Districts  

While we, together with many educators and advocates across the state, know a $550 million increase to the Evidence-Based Funding formula (EBF) will bring every school district to full funding faster, lawmakers approved a $350 million increase to the school funding formula for FY25. EBF continues to be instrumental in directing resources to schools, districts and students that need them most. Although data indicate that Illinois students are beginning to recover academically from the pandemic's disruptions, we are not yet to pre-pandemic academic proficiency, recovery is uneven, disparities persist, ESSER funds are nearly gone, and there is still a long way to go in supporting student well-being. The state must lean into EBF investments that go beyond the minimum funding level if it is to meet these challenges in earnest. 

Investing in the Whole Child 

As communities continue to recover from COVID disruptions, the need to understand and be responsive to student mental health has become even more urgent. We appreciate that the General Assembly appropriated modest funding for Resilience Education to Advance Community Healing (REACH) and SEL Hubs, programs designed to ensure all Illinois students and educators attend trauma-informed, resilient schools. These key investments are essential to supporting student well-being, which in turn helps students and schools thrive academically and beyond. That said, the funding provided in this budget falls far below the level of federal funding allocated to these projects in recent years. Indeed, these significant reductions will limit the number of schools that will benefit from these programs in FY25, if not sufficiently supplemented with extended ESSER funds. However, one important piece of good news is that the FY25 budget provides $250,000 for Illinois to develop a Children's Adversity Index that will give the state a first-ever window into trauma exposure at the local level—information that will help identify community and district needs and help direct resources, training, and support. 

Strengthening Our Schools through Our Educator Pipeline, Key Early Career Supports Missing 

As teacher and staff shortages continue to plague many schools and districts, the Illinois State Board of Education is to be commended for the strides it has taken to strengthen and diversify its educator workforce. But that effort depends on stable support from Springfield. We are pleased to see the legislature continue to a make strong investment ($8 million) in the Minority Teachers of Illinois scholarship program (MTI), which helps support candidates of color access the preparation needed to become teachers. Further, we applaud continued investments in the Teacher Loan Repayment program and principal recruitment, as well as uptake of previously ESSER-funded affinity groups as a state funded item. That said, resources for teacher and principal mentoring are nowhere in the budget, despite the important work these initiatives do preparing new educators for the demands of their roles and bolstering early career retention. These programs, currently supported through expiring ESSER dollars, must continue, especially as the state continues offering expanded routes into the classroom that require minimal to no preparation through provisional and short-term approvals, short-cuts that underscore the need to support new teachers.  

Looking Forward, Difficult Choices Ahead 

Amid a tough budget environment, we recognize the difficult decisions our legislators had to make to advance a budget, and we appreciate the important new investments in critical and foundational programs and budget lines.  But with critical gaps in support for new teachers and principals, and insufficient funding to support student well-being and learning recovery, the impact of those decisions will now be passed to district leaders. Challenging choices lie ahead. So while we extend our gratitude to the General Assembly for the budget it has approved, we resolve to continue fighting. We will continue working alongside advocates and partners across the B-20 continuum to identify investments that sustain, strengthen, and accelerate our path to better opportunities and outcomes. Our choices as a state have real and lasting consequences for children, students and families.   

Advance Illinois Statement on the Illinois State Board of Education FY25 Budget Recommendation

Today the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) approved and sent to Governor Pritzker recommendations for the FY25 Budget. In the face of budget constraints, Advance Illinois commends ISBE's proposal, which underscores its dedication to enhancing K-12 and early education in Illinois. This proposal serves as a solid road map for investments Illinois must undertake to meet the comprehensive needs of every child and student in the state generally, and in the ongoing aftermath of COVID disruptions.  

Ensuring Illinois’ educator pipeline is well supported from recruitment to preparation and retention is crucial to student learning, so we are thrilled to see ISBE’s continued support for state-funded programs and appreciate the agency’s interest in leveraging state dollars to sustain key programs that were launched with federal stimulus dollars (ESSER III). These include the state’s teacher and principal mentoring programs and affinity groups for teachers of color. Such targeted and ongoing investments are critical to help ensure all children and students have access to diverse, well-prepared, and well-qualified educators. Furthermore, ISBE has proposed a $35M allocation to support newcomers, support badly needed at the local level. Illinois continues to struggle to fill bilingual and ESL teaching positions – an issue only heightened by the increase in English learners coming into the state. We appreciate ISBE’s proposal and hope to see the state continue to strengthen and grow its bilingual workforce. 

We applaud the state’s goal of expanding access to high-quality early childhood education and care for all Illinois children. Through the Smart Start initiative announced this time last year, along with the ongoing work to move to a single early childhood agency, Illinois is working to achieve its vision of quality, equitable, and easy-to-navigate early learning and care. We support ISBE’s recommendation of an additional $75 million for the Early Childhood Block Grant – funding that would help state-funded preschool reach an additional 5,000 children and narrow access gaps across the state.  

We are also pleased to see ISBE’s response to recommendations from the Whole Child Task Force and its commitment to addressing the impact the past four years have had on students academically, socially, and emotionally. We applaud the Board for proposing an investment of $18M in state dollars for the REACH program and Social & Emotional Learning hubs – programs at risk of closing in the absence of federal funding.  And we appreciate ISBE setting aside additional funds to craft a strong Childhood Adversity Index – a tool that can help identify community and student needs, and that we expect other states will replicate. 

Finally, ISBE’s proposal of a $350 million increase for Evidence-Based Funding for Illinois’ K-12 represents a much-needed investment in our public education system and the students it serves.  That said, our state must go further. More than 1.3 million students in Illinois remain in underfunded districts; and they are disproportionately students from low-income households and students of color. While data shows our students are rebounding, our schools are still clearly recovering from the impacts of the pandemic. Chronic absenteeism numbers remain too high, proficiency rates are still too low, and the disparities in progress and outcomes remain across lines of poverty and race. As the expiration of the last round of federal stimulus funds is imminent, we applaud ISBE for stepping up to continue many federally-funded programs with state resources. But make no mistake, the loss of over $4 billion in ESSER III funding is stark—meaning local leaders will have to make hard decisions on whether and how to continue critical post-COVID supports. EBF represents the most powerful tool we have to equip schools to address these needs. So while we appreciate ISBE making good on the state’s commitment to add at least $350M a year into EBF, we hope the Governor and legislators will do everything in their power to push for up to $550M – an increase that reflects the skipped budget year in FY21, real and ongoing inflationary pressures, and ongoing and serious student needs.  

We thank ISBE for its work and its commitment in pushing for important investments in Illinois’ students and children through its budget recommendation in a tight budget year. As we look to Governor Pritzker’s budget address in late February, we urge him to keep front of mind the diverse complexities and possibilities of every Illinois student and child, and the investment they need to succeed and thrive. He has proven himself a champion of children and education. In lean budget times, our students need that leadership even more keenly.