Advance Illinois Statement on FY22 State Budget

Contact:
Advance Illinois Communications
communications@advanceillinois.org

CHICAGO, IL – In the wake of a pandemic and with many competing priorities, we applaud the appropriation of $350 million for the Evidence-Based Funding formula. This is a direct investment in the next generation and in Illinois’ own future. As importantly, it honors the state’s commitment to continue investing in our schools with a goal of getting all districts to at least 90 percent adequate funding. Never has the need been greater. Never has it been more essential for schools and leaders to have long-term funding they can rely on to meet student needs. Thank you to our elected leaders for rising to this moment.  

The appropriation of state funds for EBF allows the state to use short-term federal funds as intended: to safely reopen schools for in-person learning and support students socially, emotionally and academically as they recover from the many ways in which COVID-19 has disrupted their development and learning. 

A successful recovery from the effects of the pandemic depends heavily on critical investments across the education continuum. Accordingly, we also applaud increases to MAP funding - always important to providing equitable access to higher education, especially now. With that said, we know that children need support starting at birth, including investments in such vital programs as the Early Childhood Block Grant, Child Care Assistance Program and Early Intervention. In the teeth of greater need for support and access, we are disappointed to see cuts and flat-funding in early childhood.  

Given the ongoing need to strengthen and diversify the pipeline for teachers, social workers and other school personnel, we are heartened to see significant investments of federal funds in state-level mentoring, induction and other pipeline strategies, even as we are disappointed not to see increases to Minority Teachers of Illinois Scholarship. 

Budgets reflect priorities. This budget makes clear that the General Assembly prioritizes investments in Illinois students, even as it serves as a reminder that there is much work ahead to ensure the entire education continuum – from birth through college – is properly funded so all Illinois students are able to receive the quality education they deserve. 

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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. Since its founding in 2008, Advance Illinois has become a nationally recognized thought leader in education policy advocacy. To learn more, visit advanceillinois.org.

From Birth to Career, Fund the Entire Education Continuum

Just three months ago, we made the case that it would take new ways of thinking and working to ensure the state’s education system emerges from the pandemic able to serve kids better and more equitably. Policymakers must see education in Illinois as a single, interconnected system from birth to career that provides equitably and adequately for our students at every stage. And to create this improved system, funding and policies must extend beyond the traditional silos of early childhood, K-12, and higher education.

We’re happy to report signs of positive progress. In March, President Joe Biden signed into law the American Rescue Plan, a sweeping $1.9 trillion stimulus package aimed to help families struggling with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The legislation includes historic one-time investments in child care, home visiting, Early Intervention, K-12 education, special education, Early HeadStart, Head Start, and higher education. These federal funds represent a lifeline for the children and families of Illinois.

While the federal government has provided important short-term funding as a stopgap to help weather the current storm, the state has a critical role to play to ensure the health and sustainability of our education system.

It is why we were thrilled to see the recent announcement from Governor Pritzker indicating he supports appropriating an additional $350 million in state funds for the Evidence-Based Funding formula as part of the fiscal year 2022 (FY22) state budget. Putting $350 million of state dollars into the school formula will allow districts to make the long-term investments necessary to create strong, sustainable educational programs. An infusion of state funding will allow school leaders to use the federal relief dollars as intended: to safely reopen schools for in-person learning and support students socially, emotionally, and academically as they recover from the many ways in which COVID-19 has disrupted their development and learning.

As excited as we are to see the governor and leaders of the General Assembly back these investments publicly, the rest of our education system also needs their support. Increases in funding to schools must be paired with similar increases in funding to early childhood and post-secondary education.

We call on the GeneralAssembly to increase appropriations for the Early Childhood Block Grant by $50million, the Monetary Award Program by $50 million, and the Mental Health onCampus Act by $19 million.

Illinois has increased state investments in early childhood alongside those in the K-12system, historically, because the state’s early care and education system plays such a critical role in the success of its future K-12 students. Current funding falls far short of what is needed to provide a fully-funded early learning system that supports communities, families, educators, and providers. Earlier this year, the recommendations from the Commission on Equitable Early Childhood Education and Care Funding estimated that the current level of state and federal investment in our state’s early childhood system is only about 14% of what is needed to provide high-quality services for all families. Fully funding the state’s early childhood system is a long-term project, but an investment of $50 million in the upcoming fiscal year would act as an important down payment, particularly if that investment is focused on reducing inequities in compensation for teachers working in community-based programs or with infants and toddlers.

As for post-secondary education, we know that disinvestment over the last few decades, particularly during difficult budget years, has forced institutions to more than double tuition and fees to stay open. Students from low-income households bear the brunt of this burden. While increasing MAP will help, it is not enough – we need long-term structural change to fund higher education. There is a bill making its way through the legislative process that would establish a Commission to make recommendations on how to fund higher education more equitably and adequately. This is a conversation worth having and we urge Springfield to act now.

The practice of supporting one part of the education continuum while freezing budgets in other parts is imprudent, as students cannot develop and thrive without a strong overall system that will see them through from birth to career. We’ve seen in 2021 that a lot can happen in a few short months when we work together to reimagine a better world for children and families. We encourage the Illinois General Assembly and the Pritzker Administration to keep the momentum going. Our children deserve nothing less.

Advance Illinois 
Illinois Action for Children 
Partnership for College Completion 
Stand for Children Illinois 
Start Early 

Advance Illinois Applauds Governor Pritzker's Support of Appropriating $350 Million for the Evidence-Based Funding Formula for FY22

Contact:
Advance Illinois Communications
communications@advanceillinois.org

CHICAGO, IL – Based on improved revenue projections and state finances, Governor Pritzker today announced that he supports appropriating $350 million in general revenue funds for the Evidence-Based Funding formula for FY22. We applaud his proposal, as putting $350 million of state dollars into the school formula will allow districts to make the long-term investments necessary to create strong, sustainable educational programs. We thank the governor for his efforts to keep the state’s commitment to Illinois’ students. 

Over half of Illinois students are being educated in districts with less than 70 percent of full funding. There is a clear equity imperative to resume and continue state funding for EBF – students from low-income households and Black and Latinx students are disproportionately concentrated in districts that are the furthest from full funding. 

Unlike short-term federal funds, appropriating state dollars for EBF will support the deeper ongoing staffing and programmatic investments that are needed to drive student success into the future. Fully funding EBF allows schools to use relief dollars as intended: to safely reopen schools for in-person learning and support students socially, emotionally and academically as they recover from the many ways in which COVID-19 has disrupted their development and learning. 

We appreciate the governor’s leadership and that of legislators who have steadfastly championed the importance and urgency around funding EBF with state dollars. Our children’s futures require dependable and growing investments, and they are counting on us to keep our promises now more than ever. We applaud this support and urge the General Assembly to keep up the momentum and approve a budget that fully funds EBF. Let’s give our students the education they deserve. 

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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. Since its founding in 2008, Advance Illinois has become a nationally recognized thought leader in education policy advocacy. To learn more, visit advanceillinois.org.

Advance Illinois Applauds the Governor’s Early Childhood Funding Commission Report

Contact:
Advance Illinois Communications
communications@advanceillinois.org

CHICAGO, IL – Today, Governor Pritzker announced important first steps towards the implementation of heavy-hitting recommendations in Ready Illinois: Simpler, Fairer, Better, a monumental report released by the Illinois Commission on Equitable Early Childhood Education and Care just two weeks ago. The Commission’s report details critical funding, allocation, and governance structures needed for a strong, unified system able to ensure Illinois’ youngest children and families have equitable access to high-quality programs and services.  The report's three primary recommendations include: 

• A long-term funding goal for policymaking, which will serve as a NorthStar for building an equitable and adequate system of funding to increase access, quality and workforce compensation.  

• Centralization and coordination of early childhood education and care (ECEC) funding, which will allow the state to more equitably distribute funding and create greater stability and predictability for providers (which in turn means better services for children and families).

• Creation of a new state agency with a regional and community infrastructure, bringing together ECEC programs across state agencies to support and facilitate a more coherent, well-functioning system for providers, the workforce, children and families.

Advance Illinois applauds the creation of an “Early Childhood Transformation Team” to ensure that the Governor’s Office has the staffing needed to begin the work of moving from recommendations to on the ground implementation.

Among other things, the Transformation Team will start by setting up a regional and community infrastructure in the state, a down payment on realizing a full system of unified governance. The regional and community infrastructure will allow the state to support COVID-19 recovery efforts and future growth of the ECEC system, while ensuring the state recognizes local differences in need as it plans for a new agency.

Advance Illinois is also delighted that IDHS is elevating early childhood education and care services through the creation of an independent division within the agency. This status permits the new division to focus specifically on young children. We recognize this consolidation as another important step toward centralizing and coordinating early childhood governance and services.  

We celebrate the commitment of the Governor to make Illinois the best state in the nation to raise families with young children, and we stand ready to support the administration in these first steps toward transforming the early childhood education and care system in Illinois.

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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. Since its founding in 2008, Advance Illinois has become a nationally recognized thought leader in education policy advocacy. To learn more, visit advanceillinois.org.

Advance Illinois Responds to Governor Pritzker’s Proposed FY22 Budget

Contact:
Advance Illinois Communications
communications@advanceillinois.org

CHICAGO, IL – Illinois faces serious budgetary challenges, which have been exacerbated by the dramatic impact of COVID-19. It will not be easy to address the many and varied issues that pre-existed the pandemic and have been compounded by it. 

Governing is hard, and we do not envy the governor or members of the General Assembly who have difficult decisions to make. While we understand the competing pressures on the state’s limited resources and applaud additional funding for MAP grants, it is nonetheless disappointing that the proposed budget contains cuts for some early childhood programs, and, for the second year in a row, calls for mostly flat funding across the education continuum, including no new funds for the Evidence-Based Formula (EBF). 

There is nothing easy about the coming year’s budget, and we believe Governor Pritzker is committed to increasing education funding for early childhood education and care, K-12and higher education. And this we know: education is the single most important investment we can make in our children and our future. It’s why we passed the Evidenced-Based Funding formula five years ago, and it’s why we committed as a state to put at least $350 million new dollars into that formula every year for ten years. 

No one could have foreseen COVID-19 and the growing impacts of the pandemic, and it has unquestionably made it harder to keep this commitment.  It also has made the road ahead harder for all children and deepened already unacceptable racial, economic, and regional disparities. 

Federal funds meant to facilitate school reopening and early recovery will help. But make no mistake, relief dollars are needed to address immediate and ongoing COVID-19-related issues such as health and safety measures, closing the digital divide to permit all children access to virtual learning, and short-term efforts to provide additional academic, social and emotional supports. These one-time federal funds are not meant to support the deeper ongoing staffing and programmatic investments that are needed to drive student success into the future. The same holds true for early childhood education and care, universities and community colleges. 

We are heartened to hear that legislators plan to prioritize education funding. Our children’s futures require dependable and growing investments, and they are counting on us to keep our promises now more than ever. As circumstances continue to evolve, we urge the General Assembly to exhaust every means possible to uphold the state’s commitment to not only maintain education funding, but to continue to grow it for children birth through career. 

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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. Since its founding in 2008, Advance Illinois has become a nationally recognized thought leader in education policy advocacy. To learn more, visit advanceillinois.org.