From the Desk: The Work Ahead

Hello, 2024. The General Assembly is now in session, and we are all bracing for a lean budget year. In spite of this, the Illinois State Board of Education put forth a commendable budget proposal - one that grows the Evidence-Based Funding (EBF) formula and early childhood programming, and that proposes to invest state dollars to continue federally-funded programs that have been strengthening the educator pipeline and bringing badly-needed mental-health supports and systems to districts and families.  At the postsecondary level, state higher education agencies are asking for 50 million new dollars to expand need-based scholarships (MAP). Notably, IBHE asked for more dollars to be directed to state universities, but called for them to be distributed equitably, rather than evenly – a recommendation that is consistent with the state’s ongoing work to develop a more equitable, adequate and sustainable approach to higher education funding.    

Put simply, while we cannot ignore the possibility of an $891 million budget deficit in FY25, agencies identified what they believe our students need.  And their priorities line up with serious work underway in the field.   

• This spring, the General Assembly will vote on a plan to establish a new, stand-alone early childhood agency, a critical step in creating a more coherent, strategic, and effective system of care for our youngest learners. 

• In March, the Commission on Equitable Public University Funding will release long-awaited recommendations for how the state might take a more adequate, equitable, and sustainable approach to funding its public universities. 

• As federal relief funds disappear, the state will make hard decisions about how to maintain programs for student well-being and programs to grow our educator pipeline.  

As state leaders this year make key decisions on how to direct scarce resources, the research is clear: investments in education pay off. Better academic outcomes, enabled by adequate investments in education, translate to economic growth, increased earnings, and decreased unemployment. Nationally, research has found that the median increase in tax income for every additional bachelor’s degree, when compared to a high school diploma, is $7,800 per person per year, which also results in a corresponding decrease in the use of social services. As or more importantly, a well-educated population is associated with better individual and family well-being - increased civic engagement, volunteerism, happiness, and better health and wellness. Suffice it to say, investing in education means ensuring a brighter future for our children and for the state as a whole. 

Advance Illinois Policy Priorities for FY25 

ADEQUATE & EQUITABLE FUNDING ACROSS THE BIRTH-20 (B-20) CONTINUUM 

Every step of our education system relies on the health and success of the previous one, so it is vital that Illinois take a Birth-20 (B-20) funding approach to ensure that every part of the education and care continuum is adequately and equitably funded. While funding is not the only answer to what ails public education in Illinois, years of under-investment and inequitable investment—from early childhood through higher education—have taken a toll on student achievement and progress, and the impacts of COVID-19 disruptions have only exacerbated inequities. Accordingly, this legislative session, we are advocating for:  

• Increased state early childhood investments and celebrating and supporting the work underway to create a stand-alone early learning and care agency.  

• Continuing to move the needle on adequately funding our 850+ public school districts by adding $550 million in new funds into the Evidence-based Funding Formula (EBF) if at all humanly possible 

• Taking the necessary next steps to create a public university funding formula that centers equity and student need. This March, the Commission on Equitable Public University Funding will release its recommendation for how the state might distribute funding resources to the state’s 12 public universities. It is critical that we take this opportunity to reimagine how Illinois can provide reliable, equitable, and sufficient funding for our public four-year institutions to effectively serve their diverse student populations.  

A STRONGER, MORE DIVERSE TEACHER AND PRINCIPAL PIPELINE 

The impact of educators on students’ experiences and outcomes cannot be overstated: Teachers play the single most impactful role in a student’s academic growth and broader well-being, and school administrators are the driving force in the recruiting, retaining, and developing teachers and shaping school climate. We applaud the thoughtful and coordinated investments Illinois has been making to strengthen, grow, and diversify its teacher pipeline. That work has been paying off, but as our recent report The State of the Educator Pipeline 2023 found, there is significant work still to do to address shortages and increase educator diversity. This session we are continuing to advocate for evidence-based strategies that address the full continuum of the educator pipeline, from preparation and recruitment to placement and retention. It is critical that Illinois:  

• Sustains its investment of $8 million in the Minority Teachers of Illinois (MTI) scholarship to support candidates of color, including Black male and bilingual candidates; 

• Uses state funds to replace lapsing federal stimulus dollars to continue important programs including ECACE, teacher and principal mentoring, affinity groups, educator rising; and  

• Takes action to strengthen the student teaching experience, addressing the significant financial barrier this experience can present and finding ways to better support cooperating teachers, who play a critical role.  

WHOLE CHILD SUPPORTS  

Even before the pandemic, students experienced significant needs related to social, emotional, and mental health well-being. The COVID-19 pandemic and its broad disruptions only exacerbated these challenges. We applaud the strides Illinois has taken to become a trauma-responsive state and the ways it has leveraged federal stimulus funds to invest in the resources and systems required to provide our children and youth healing-centered education and care. 

But while students continue to rebound, COVID’s impact on well-being persists, with students of color and students from low-income households disproportionately affected.  

• We continue to prioritize efforts that support all Illinois school districts in becoming trauma- informed and healing-centered environments. This includes supporting development of a Childhood Adversity Index, laying out the training and ongoing development that both new and current educators need, and updating the State Report card to include district level data on mental health resources and staff currently available to support students. What is more, as ESSER funds disappear, the state must step up to support critical efforts like the REACH pilot and SEL hubs. 

DATA AND RESEARCH 

Research, data, and analysis are linchpins of good policy and evidence-based practice. Accordingly, the state must continue to prioritize data collection and reporting, even as it attends to learning renewal. As an organization, we will continue to support investments in our education agencies’ capacity to collect and make data available for state leaders and stakeholders, and work to ensure we sufficiently fund our statewide longitudinal data system (ILDS) so that we can better understand the impact of our investments in education from birth to post-secondary and workforce.  

If we care about our students’ futures, the work is never done. The good news is that Illinois has been making progress—growing and diversifying its workforce, supporting students in renewal and recovery, building equity into its funding mechanisms, and investing in the data and research policymakers and practitioners need. Let us continue this work in the year ahead. 

Onward,

Robin  

From the Desk—Reflecting on A Significant Year for Illinois Education

As the year comes to a close, it feels right to reflect on an extraordinary year for education in our state. In 2023, Illinois invested powerfully in its children, financially and beyond – a testament to what can be accomplished when we have clear plans, when we work collaboratively, when families and educators advocate, and when elected officials exercise political will and leadership.  

I will resist the impulse to do a laundry list, but here are a “few” highlights that I am carrying with me into the New Year:  

In 2023, the General Assembly passed the FY24 budget putting $1.1 billion new dollars into education, from birth through higher education – an investment that reflects the priority this work deserves amidst the ongoing, deep, and uneven impact the pandemic continues to have on learners of all ages. Governor Pritzker’s Smart Start Illinois comes with the ambitious goal of closing early childhood deserts and reaching another 20,000 children during the course of his administration. Historic investments in need-based MAP scholarships and institutional funding mean that virtually every eligible MAP applicant will receive a grant – a grant that should cover 100% of community college costs and a growing share of four-year costs.  And an increase to the Minority Teachers of Illinois scholarship means the state has more than tripled the number of candidates it can serve, to over 1,000 a year. 

On the legislative front, the General Assembly took some important steps to expand access, increase transparency, support equity and inclusion, and leverage evidence-based practices in classrooms and programs. Specifically: 

• By SY27-28, every school district will offer families the option of sending their children to full-day kindergarten;  

• A statewide Literacy Plan, coupled with other resources and supports, will increase access to evidence-based, culturally inclusive core reading instruction; 

• Changes to Illinois’ Articulation Initiative will improve Illinois college students’ ability to transfer credits across schools; and 

• Having formally adopted key recommendations from the Whole Child Task Force, the state will develop a Childhood Adversity Index, publicly report student support staffing levels, and design appropriate training and development – steps that put Illinois on a path to more holistically and systemically supporting student (and teacher) well-being.

And early childhood deserves a special shout-out. First, Governor Pritzker announced Smart Start, designed to expand and deepen investments in early learning and care systems in the state by expanding preschool, childcare, early intervention, and home visiting, while also working to address issues around workforce, compensation, and capital improvements.  This fall, the Governor formally announced plans to combine early childhood programming (currently administered across multiple agencies) into a new stand-alone early childhood agency—a much-needed development for Illinois providers and families, and one that delivers on goals set forth by the Governor’s Commission on Equitable Early Childhood and Care Funding. We’d be excited about this even if the Governor hadn’t had the good sense to hire our own Ann Whalen to lead the transition, and we look forward to collaborating closely with partners, community-based organizations, agency leaders, families, and providers to ensure this critical next step is data-informed and puts families and equity at the center. And if that isn’t enough, 2023 was an important year for growing the pipeline for early childhood educators.  Using federal funds, ECACE (the Early Childhood Access Consortium for Equity) has now supported over 4,000 candidates take advantage of scholarships and mentoring to pursue early childhood teaching credentials.  What an extraordinary amount of progress! 

Closer to home, I am proud of a few organizational accomplishments.  First, Advance Illinois released its State of the Educator Pipeline 2023 report and data dashboard – the first time we’ve taken such a comprehensive and in-depth look at the complex and interconnected array of programs, issues and data points that paint a more complete picture of how well Illinois is doing at recruiting, preparing, placing, and keeping teachers and administrators around the state and in high-need areas. It was a timely report with many important take-aways, including the fact that while our state has the largest educator workforce it has had in a decade, shortages remain, and they disproportionately impact students of color, from low-income households, English learners, and students with IEPs. We applaud current and ongoing state efforts to grow and diversify the pipeline, and will continue to pay close attention to need, progress and opportunities going forward.   

Finally, it was a special joy to celebrate our 15th anniversary with so many longstanding partners! One of the many things we’ve learned is that nothing important is accomplished without collective input and effort. Thank you for your partnership over the years and across a wide range of issues that support higher quality and more equitable opportunities and outcomes for children from birth to career.  

From all accounts, we are heading into a lean budget year, and facing growing politicization of our schools at the local level. Given that, we will have to work smarter and harder to make the most of scarce resources, and to ensure we create a policy environment that supports, enriches and challenges the next generation.  

As we look ahead to 2024, there is room for still more powerful progress, even as there continue to be real and serious challenges. This spring, the General Assembly will vote on the contours of a new early childhood agency; the Commission on Equitable Public University Funding will release long-awaited recommendations for a more adequate, equitable and sustainable method of funding our public universities; and as federal relief funds disappear, the state will make hard decisions about how to maintain programs for student well-being and programs to grow our educator pipeline. But we have proven that we can and will rise to such challenges, and that we can and have made investments and policy decisions that are improving opportunities for all of our children. Let us continue.  

Here’s to ongoing partnership in the year ahead!  

Sincerely,  

Robin Steans

From the Desk—Back to School 2023: 5 Things to Look Out for in Illinois Education and Care

From early childhood through higher education, this past year was a big year in Illinois education. First, the FY24 budget represents historic investment in our birth-to-20 education system. While we did not get everything we asked for, across early childhood education and care, K-12, and post-secondary the General Assembly delivered over $1 billion in new education funding. That is a powerful investment in our state’s future! New legislation was signed that expanded access, strengthened student and educator supports, and advanced equity in our education system. Some highlights include implementation of key elements of the state’s Whole Child Task Force recommendations, expansion of full-day kindergarten to all districts in the next three years, additional increases to MAP, and efforts to smooth the transition from 2- to 4-year institutions.   

As we now pivot to look at the year ahead, there are a few issues and activities that could prove monumental for Illinois. Here are five things to watch for in Illinois education this year:  

1. A road map for adequate, equitable, and sustainable funding for Illinois’ 4-year public universities. 

The data is clear: post-secondary degrees matter and have a direct impact on an individual's future earnings and our state's economy. Yet, in Illinois, we both underfund and inequitably fund higher education. This pattern has pushed college out of financial reach for many families and driven down overall enrollment, especially for students who have been historically underrepresented in higher education. While recent reinvestments have made some progress, we still have no clear idea how much a degree should cost, and no real system for ensuring that state dollars follow student and institutional need. Indeed, the current system largely consists of individual institutions pleading their case to the General Assembly. But the stage is set for serious change-- soon, the Commission on Equitable Public University Funding is set to release a set of comprehensive recommendations that we expect to include specific data-driven criteria and approaches to adequately, equitably, and stably fund public universities in Illinois. If adopted, this would be a game changer for Illinois, setting us up to be a national leader in ensuring institutions of higher education have sufficient funding and resources to support all students, especially students of color, low-income students, and first-generation students, to enroll, persist, and graduate. As the country considers the implications of the Supreme Court decision this summer to curtail the use of race in college admissions, it is vital that our state continue to champion policies that center the needs of students who have been historically marginalized, and those who we demonstrably need to serve better. 

2. Actions to address and mitigate the impact of the federal stimulus cliff.  

As a state, Illinois has, across sectors, received over $107 billion in federal pandemic relief since March 2020, with $8 billion of that going to Illinois schools to and through this school year. These funds have been a lifeline for students, families, schools and communities, providing vital supports and resources to respond to immediate pandemic-related needs, and to support longer-term recovery and renewal. While some funds have already started to expire, this is the last full school year in which education-related pandemic relief dollars will be available, leaving state agencies and school districts with difficult decisions to make regarding what programs, services, and positions to continue or cut. As we prepare for these challenging conversations, let us work hard to a) use data to inform decision-making, b) listen to students and families about what’s working and what is needed, and c) ensure there is transparency and public dialogue around the process. Learning renewal is ongoing—and we cannot expect to simply and easily cut all the work being funded with federal stimulus dollars. Instead, we must carefully and strategically consider what is right for Illinois students, what will support them adequately and equitably, and where it is appropriate to find state or local dollars to keep programs going. 

3. Efforts to mitigate the impact of short-term fluctuations in tax revenues on Evidence-Based Funding. 

In six of the last seven years, the General Assembly has approved increases to the Evidence-Based Funding (EBF) formula—investing more than $1.8 billion in new tier funding overall. These investments, combined with growth in local resources, have helped dramatically reduce the number of students attending severely underfunded school districts in Illinois.1 However, some of this progress may be short-lived. In recent years, one district revenue source, the Corporate Personal Property Replacement Tax (CPPRT), has significantly, but temporarily increased, driven largely by reductions in tax exemptions, influxes in federal stimulus dollars and increased spending during the pandemic. This increase in CPPRT revenue is providing a momentary bump to adequacy for many districts -- making our system appear much better funded than it was a year ago. While it is terrific for districts to receive these funds in the short term, it seems clear that the revenue increase is temporary. Indeed, K-12 districts are expected to see a total of $660 million fewer dollars coming from this funding source in FY24. However, because EBF calculations use lagging data, FY24 EBF data does not accurately reflect the real drops in resources that districts are feeling right now, or our state’s actual overall gap to full funding. 

 Meanwhile, even with the temporary gains we are seeing in FY24 adequacy, most of the state’s students—more than 1.3 million children— are still in underfunded districts (below 90% of full funding). We need to make good on having missed a year of increased funding during the pandemic, mitigate the impact of declining CPPRT revenue, help districts manage inflationary costs, and commit to growing EBF investments to make sure we’re on a path to ensure every student enrolled at an Illinois public K-12 school can access a quality education.  

4. New information about the impact of the pandemic on the educator pipeline. 

More and more data are becoming available on the impact the pandemic has had on students and schools. Since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, there has been much discussion, but limited data shared, about the anticipated impact of this event on the educator workforce. This fall, Advance Illinois will release a report that takes a look at the full breadth and diversity of our educator pipeline, addressing topics from recruitment and supply of new educators, to retention of veteran teachers and leaders. The aim of this report is to explore the early impact of the pandemic, unpack areas where the state has made progress, and highlight what challenges and considerations should be top of mind as the state moves forward. Following this report, ISBE will release additional data this year in its annual State Report Card and its Educator Supply and Demand Report. Lots to look forward to - stay tuned! 

5. Further progress in creating a more equitable and effective system of early childhood education and care. 

In Illinois, as well as throughout the nation, access to essential, high-quality programs and services for young children remains out of reach for many families. State funding and allocation of limited early childhood education and care dollars has resulted in a patchwork quilt of programming and supports. The direct impact of this can be seen in statewide kindergarten readiness data: As the most recent data suggests, less than a third of incoming kindergartners entered school fully prepared. One of the major barriers is the complex way the state administers early childhood programs, a governance structure that spans three different agencies and creates a system that is hard for providers and families to navigate. We commend the state for its recent efforts, and its investments to strengthen and expand Illinois’ Birth-5 system. With recommendations from the Commission on Equitable Early Childhood Education and Care Funding laying a path forward for the system, and year one of Illinois’ Smart Start program making deeply needed investments, we see a lot of promise and opportunity ahead. As state leaders and advocates champion and invest additional resources and pilot new, more strategic and equitable ways for distributing funding, the time is now to prioritize growing and stabilizing the workforce and rethinking governance so we can better align programs, resources, and policies. Moving to a single agency will provide greater coherence and accountability for the state and is good for children, families, providers, and schools.  

Illinois has much to be proud of and celebrate, but we cannot rest. Looking ahead, there is more to do. We must work together to address challenges and opportunities and make Illinois a stronger, better state for the children and students who depend on us.   

From The Desk—On the 103rd Legislative Session: A Tremendous Vote of Confidence for the Next Generation, But No Time to Let Up

Last week the General Assembly adjourned the 103rd Session and there is much to discuss and celebrate! The session included historic investment in education and endorsement of Smart Start Illinois, a multi-year vision for early childhood and care that stems from recommendations made by the Governor’s Early Childhood Funding Commission. At a time when state houses across the country are telling programs and schools what they can and can’t do and taking steps to make classrooms less accessible and inclusive, Illinois’ legislature showed a commitment to expanding access, increasing transparency, supporting equity and inclusion, and leveraging evidence-based practices in classrooms and programs. Below we spotlight some key outcomes, along with our hope that Illinois continues to build on this commitment to equity and quality and stay on course toward becoming the best state in the nation to raise and educate a family.

FY24 Budget 
As we shared in our initial statement, the FY24 budget represents historic investment in our birth-to-20 education system. Throughout the legislative session, the collective voices of parents, educators, students and residents throughout the state raised up what is needed—and they were heard!  While we did not get everything we asked for, across early childhood and care, K-12, and post-secondary the General Assembly delivered over $1 billion in new education funding. That is a powerful investment in our state’s future! Starting with our youngest children, the budget included almost $300 million in new funds for education and care from birth to Pre-K, $350 million in new tier funds for our K-12 Evidence-Based Funding (EBF), more than $55 million new dollars to strengthen and diversify our educator pipeline, and an almost $215 million increase to support higher education institutions and scholarships. Thank you to the Funding Illinois’ Future Coalition, the Minority Teachers of Illinois champions, the We, The Village Coalition, the Coalition for Transforming Higher Education Funding, and the many advocates who raised their voices! 

In addition to community voice, Advance Illinois’ work is guided by research and data. Accordingly, we think it is powerful that across the education continuum, and thanks to the work of the Early Childhood Funding Commission, EBF, and the Illinois Commission on Equitable Public University Funding, Illinois is getting a clearer picture of what it truly costs to adequately and equitably fund education and meet the needs of children, students and families—while also paying our workforce at rates commensurate with their value. We use that information to guide our advocacy, and it is clear that legislators responded. Our one disappointment is that calls to increase funding for EBF by $550 million were not met. Given the ongoing post-pandemic needs facing students and schools across the state, and given the fact that the state did not increase EBF in FY21, the need was—and continues to be—urgent. And so our collective advocacy will continue.  

Legislative Highlights 

This year the General Assembly managed through an extraordinary volume of education-related bills. Of those that passed, the vast majority helped advance access, improve transparency, equity and inclusion, and worked to address needs in the educator pipeline. Here are a few highlights:    

Expanding Access  

Historically, offering kindergarten was optional for Illinois districts, and there was no expectation that full-day programs be provided. While the overwhelming majority of districts offer kindergarten (including full-day), HB2396 ensures that kindergarten will be available to all families, requiring that a full-day kindergarten option be offered in all districts by the 2027-28 school year. Additionally, SB2243 requires the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) to, among other things, create a statewide Literacy Plan and provide resources and supports for districts and schools to increase access and implement evidence-based, culturally-inclusive core reading instruction programs. To expand access and participation in higher education, SB2288 requires improvements to Illinois’ 2- to 4- year articulation process (supporting the transferability of credits across schools) and, importantly, adds the education major to the Illinois Articulation Initiative.  

Improving Transparency & Strengthening Student Supports  

HB0342 advances a number of recommendations from the Whole Child Task Force. Specifically and among other things, the bill requires the State Report Card to include data on the number of counselors, social workers, and nurses available at the school and district level, and charges ISBE with creating a new “adversity index” to better understand student and family exposure to trauma. SB2031 establishes an Expanded High School Snapshot Report to provide greater transparency on the range of coursework available at high schools across the state, and more data on student participation in advanced coursework. Finally, SB2240 provides greater transparency to high school districts on their students’ community college remediation data. Taken together, these transparency efforts will help improve awareness, inform policy discussions, impact resource allocation decisions, and support ongoing improvement efforts. 

Elevating Equity and Inclusion 

Senate Bill 90 requires school districts to create a policy on discrimination and harassment based on race, color, or national origin. Pending appropriations, it also requires ISBE to create a data collection system to report on allegations of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation against students.  HB1633 requires that Native American History be taught in Illinois schools, and SB1787 establishes the Rural Education Advisory Council to advise ISBE on the experiences and needs of students and educators in rural settings. 

Supporting our Educator Pipeline  

This year we saw efforts to make it easier for substitutes to consistently support a classroom (HB3442), steps to launch a pilot to increase the availability of endorsements (HB2442), and action to provide relief for Golden Apple Scholars, Special Education Teacher Tuition Waiver, and Minority Teachers of Illinois Scholarship recipients who go back into eligible classrooms after initially not meeting their service requirements (HB3498). In addition, SB1488 establishes a taskforce to make recommendations for an objective and consistent teacher performance assessment as part of the Illinois teacher licensure process. Finally, HR 62 calls on ISBE to create a portal to help potential educators navigate entry into the profession, and to access available scholarships and waivers.  

At the same time, SB1872 shortens the time for teachers to be eligible for tenure and reduces the time that principals and coaches have to support early career teachers before making tenure decisions – a decision that will likely place additional pressure on the educator pipeline. We are optimistic that research currently underway into the implementation of Illinois’ educator evaluation system and led by the Performance Evaluation Advisory Council (PEAC), will identify strengths and opportunities that will inform any subsequent policy action. Going forward the state should continue to ensure that all teachers receive the feedback and support they need to be effective educators for all students.     

Budget Implementation Bill (BIMP)

In true Springfield fashion, the budget implementation bill (also known as the BIMP) included some impactful legislative changes and requirements.  These included: 

• Providing the authority and some parameters to launch the Governor’s Smart Start Illinois and Teacher Vacancy Grant Pilot Program, as well as establishing The Imagination Library of Illinois Fund.  

• Codifying an increase of the maximum grant award for Illinois’ signature grant program, MAP, from $8,508 to $10,896. 

• Requiring that FY24 early childhood construction grants go to school districts exclusively, and not also to eligible community–based programs. 

• Codifying into law the current income eligibility threshold (225% of the Federal Poverty Level) for the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP). 

• Directing ISBE, for a second year in a row, to work outside of the EBF formula and provide “Significant Loss” grants to certain eligible districts that may see a significant drop in their local contribution, a direction made on top of legislative changes designed to systemically ease the impact of dramatic changes in local revenues. Absent consultation with the Professional Review Panel (created to oversee the new EBF formula), this one-time grant was extended for another year.  

Conclusion 

All told, this session was marked by a budget that reflected and prioritized students, with a focus on equity and access. It is worth pausing to appreciate all those involved in getting to these key decisions and worth celebrating the General Assembly’s vote of confidence in the next generation and those who work tirelessly to educate and support them. But amidst the celebration, we cannot rest. Looking ahead, even more will be required of us to ensure that Illinois truly becomes the best state in the nation to raise and educate a family. As communities across the country grapple with culture wars that impact teaching and learning, we are reminded that Illinois is not immune to these tensions. We applaud the good work in motion to advance an equitable and high-quality system of education and care, and re-commit ourselves to the important work ahead. 

In partnership,  

Robin

rsteans@advanceillinois.org

From the Desk of Robin Steans—6 Recommendations from Experts for Transforming Illinois’ Early Childhood Education and Care System

This spring, we had the opportunity to host and co-host a number of events across the state for legislators, state leaders, advocates, district, school, and program leaders, teachers and other interested stakeholders on how Illinois can create an Equitable Early Childhood System for Illinois – and boy, did we learn a lot.  

Joined by national experts Linda K. Smith, the Director of the Bipartisan Center’s Early Childhood Development Initiative and Dr. Dan Wuori, Senior Director of Early Learning at the Hunt Institute at all events, and Deputy Governor of Education Martin Torres and Emnet Ward, HR Director and Interim CEO of Eyes on the Future Child Development Center at our 11th Annual Legislative Education Forum, we discussed the current national and state early learning environment, where Illinois stands against the 2021 Funding Commission recommendations and potential opportunities and considerations for the Governor’s Smart Start Initiative and efforts to expand access to preschool and child care.  While there were many helpful considerations and lessons from other states, six key recommendations from the experts and presenters stood out:  

1. Set quality as a goal from the beginning. Decades of research have shown the importance of a child’s first years of life and the positive impact that quality early learning experiences have, not only on children’s success in school, but throughout their lifetime. Yet, rarely do states and communities center quality as an initial or central objective for their early childhood and care programs as they look to expand or reform their system. Too often, quality becomes something that the state will focus on “next” once the foundation and systems are launched, and/or in favor of increasing numbers and slots.  The experts vehemently cautioned against this. They urged Illinois to be explicit and tireless in anchoring all policies, funding, and redesign in quality programming for all children from the beginning. This includes ensuring such efforts as quality staffing and compensation levels, full-day versus half-day preschool, and more. 

2. We need to think about Governance, Funding Mechanisms, and Quality all at the same time. The current early childhood business model is fundamentally broken. State and Federal resources are insufficient – resulting in childcare deserts, poverty level wages for early childhood staff, and program quality as an afterthought or add on. While this isn’t unique to Illinois, our current policies and practices reinforce a flawed status quo. As Illinois advances policy and investment in our early childhood education and care system, it is vital to understand that we cannot meaningfully address access and wage issues without first fixing the business model of childcare.  This includes working on “supply”—teachers, facilities, supports—not just “demand”—expanding slots; transforming how we allocate funding to be more equitable, adequate, and stable; rethinking our fractured governance model; and focusing on education pipeline and compensation systems.  

3. Inclusive, extensive, and ongoing engagement matters. The state needs to engage parents and families to better understand what they want and need for their children not just what we think they need. Furthermore, we cannot solely focus these efforts on the urban and suburban context, we must engage and include rural areas. This engagement needs to start early and span from planning to design and development to implementation. For meaningful change to occur, the state needs to listen to those impacted.   

4. Establish timelines that we can be held accountable to as a state. The ambitious early childhood plan under discussion in Illinois is truly transformative and exciting, and we have made tangible progress in the past few years. Yet, for the state to tackle the major system improvements it aspires to make, there must be a clear multi-year plan - with clear leadership and external accountability around timelines and benchmarks. While one suggestion was to have legislative deadlines - similar to what US Congress did for the Department of Defense childcare system - other approaches like a public-private blueprint were discussed.  

5. Transformation needs external expertise and perspective. Transformation along the lines that the state is discussing can benefit from external expertise and perspectives because, in our speakers’ experience, this level of change is difficult to make from the inside alone. 

6. There is an opportunity for bipartisan partnership and support. In states across the country, early childhood education and care seems to be one of the few areas on which both Republicans and Democrats want to make progress.  Our speakers cited numerous polls demonstrating overwhelming popular support for early childhood programs, policies, and investments.  And while we have made important progress, we have a long way to go, including streamlining governance so we can be more strategic, effective and equitable. 

In recent years, Illinois has taken key steps in increasing its investments in the education and care of our young learners. Amidst the COVID-19 crisis, Governor JB Pritzker made nation-leading investments in the childcare sector, providing a lifeline to keep providers afloat through the pandemic and their doors open to provide essential support for working families. The Governor also convened the state’s first bipartisan Commission on Equitable Early Childhood Education and Care Funding.  In 2021, this Commission released a set of recommendations for the development for a unified, equitable, and fully funded early childhood system in Illinois. And now, as the Governor enters his second term, he has made bold proposals to make preschool available to all families and close child care deserts – proposals that will certainly advance his vision of making Illinois the best state in the nation for families raising young children. It is essential that we listen to and learn from both external experts and internal stakeholders with lived experiences and knowledge to truly transform Illinois early childhood and care system and ensure Illinois continues its journey is providing every child in our state the opportunity for a high-quality early learning experience. 

We would like to thank our speakers and panelists for their insights, expertise and feedback. We would also like to thank the over 150 participants who turned out to events across the state – we hope you learned and benefited as much as we did. And finally, we would like to thank the many partners who helped make last week possible and such a stimulating success.