Raising Illinois Applauds Release of the Illinois Commission on Equitable Funding for Early Childhood Education and Care's Final Report
Recommendations outlined in report provide ambitious path to strengthening Illinois’ early care and education system and the infants and toddlers it serves.
Raising Illinois thanks Governor J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois Commission on Equitable Funding for Early Childhood Education and Care for releasing its comprehensive report on the future of our state’s early care and education system. The report, developed between 2019-2021, lays out an ambitious plan for how to make Illinois’ early care and education system the best in the nation. Raising Illinois, in partnership with the Early Childhood Funding Coalition, urges policymakers to implement the report’s recommendations with expediency.
The report makes recommendations that are critical components of Raising Illinois’ Prenatal to Three Policy Agenda, including:
- Substantial increases in and improved delivery of early childhood program funding
- More effective program governance, including the creation of a single state agency responsible for the early childhood system
- Greater support of the state’s early childhood workforce — as well as improvements and investments in all programs — so that providers have what they need to support infants and toddlers, young children with disabilities or developmental delays and English Learners
These are just a few of the essential steps needed to ensure that children and families have equitable access to high-quality care and education. We are committed to helping see this work through, bringing family and provider experiences and voices to the forefront.
Raising Illinois is proud and honored to have many of its members represented on the Commission, whose work reimagines a better future for families and early childhood providers alike.
The Illinois Commission on Equitable Early Childhood Education and Care Funding, also known as the Early Childhood Funding Commission, was established in December 2019. Its purpose was to study and make recommendations to the Governor on funding goals and mechanisms that provide equitable access to high-quality early childhood education and care services for all children birth-to-age 5 in Illinois. The Commission submitted its recommendations to the Governor in March 2021.
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