Early Education
2010 Early Childhood Education Policy Recommendations
Provide All Families Access to Quality Early Learning Programs Proven to Cut Crime. A wide body of research from some of our most esteemed academic institutions tells us that expanding these investments will significantly cut the numbers of kids who grow up to become criminals. We have made good progress in Illinois and these proposals will keep us moving forward. 2010 (FY11) Policy Recommendations:
A. Remove the June 30, 2010 Sunset Date from the Preschool for All legislation - Pass SB 2594/HB 5322. As is common with many initiatives adopted in Springfield, the current Preschool for All statute contains a sunset provision of June 30, 2010. We urge final passage of either SB 2594 or HB 5322 to remove the sunset provision.
B. Reject proposed cuts to the Early Childhood Education Block Grant (ECBG) in Governor Quinn's proposed FY 11 budget. The ECBG in the Illinois State Board of Education budget is the funding stream for Preschool for All and a number of family strengthening programs through the Birth-to-Three set-aside portion of the block grant. The ECBG is slated for a cut of 16 percent ($54 million) in the proposed budget. If implemented, this cut, on top of last year's 10 percent cut, will force preschool programs in Illinois to reduce enrollment by 24,000 children. For programs in many communities, this cut will be unsustainable and many will be forced to face the possibility of layoffs, erosion of their quality components, and even closing their doors. Restoration of these cuts will allow programs to restore quality components and keep grantees providing quality preschool.
C. Reject proposed $76 million cut to the child care assistance program for working families. Our goals in supporting this are to maintain stable child care access and quality for children of low-income working families. This will help to preserve parents' choice of a variety of quality care settings for their youngsters - both home-based and center-based care.
