(325 ILCS 75/15-5)

Sec. 15-5. Findings; policies.

(a) The General Assembly finds the following:

(1) Long-standing research shows that high-quality early childhood experiences have an impact on children's short-term and long-term outcomes, such as educational attainment, health, and lifetime income, particularly for children from low-income families.

(2) Early childhood education and care programs provide child care so parents can maintain stable employment, provide for themselves and their families, and advance their career or educational goals.

(3) Illinois has a vigorous early childhood education and care industry composed of programs that serve children under the age of 6, including preschool and child care in schools, centers, and homes; these programs also include home visiting and services for young children with special needs.

(4) A significant portion of the early childhood workforce and of family child care providers are Black and Latinx women.

(5) Illinois was among the first states in the nation to enact the Pre-K At-Risk program and services for infants and toddlers in the 1980s and reaffirmed this commitment to early childhood education in 2006 by creating Preschool for All to offer State-funded, high-quality preschool to 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds.

(6) Illinois was one of the first states in the nation to commit education funding to very young children and to have a statutory commitment to grow funding for infant-toddler services as it grows preschool services, including prenatal supports like home visitors and doulas.

(7) Countless children and families have benefitted from these services over these decades and have had the opportunity to enter school ready to learn and succeed.

(8) Despite progress made by the State, too few children, particularly those from Black, Latinx, and low-income households and child care deserts, have access to high-quality early childhood education and care services, due to both the availability and affordability of quality services.

(9) In 2019, only 29% of all children in Illinois entered kindergarten "ready"; only 21% of Black children, 17% of Latinx children, 14% of English Learners, 14% of children with IEPs, and 20% of children on free and reduced lunch demonstrated readiness, highlighting the critical work Illinois must do to close gaps in opportunity and outcomes.

(10) The State's early childhood education and care programs are maintained across 3 state agencies, which leads to inefficiencies, lack of alignment, challenges to collecting comprehensive data around services and needs of children and families, and obstacles for both children and families and the early childhood education and care providers to navigate the fragmented system and ensure children receive high-quality services that meet their needs.

(11) The State's current mechanisms for payment to early childhood education and care providers may not incentivize quality services and can lead to payment delays, lack of stability of providers, and the inability of providers to provide appropriate compensation to the workforce and support quality programming.

(12) Illinois must advance a just system for early childhood education and care that ensures racially and economically equitable opportunities and outcomes for all children.

(13) In 2017, Illinois became a national leader in passing the K-12 Evidence-Based Funding formula for public schools, creating a mechanism to adequately fund and equitably disburse resources throughout the State and prioritize funding for school districts that need it most.

(b) The General Assembly supports the following goals of the Illinois Commission on Equitable Early Childhood Education and Care Funding:

(1) To create a more equitable, efficient, and effective system and thereby increase access to high-quality services, particularly to serve more Black and Latinx children and populations of children where children of color may be disproportionately represented, such as: children from low-income households, with disabilities, experiencing homelessness, and participating in the child welfare system; English learners; and children from households in which English is not the primary language spoken.

(2) To ensure a more equitable system, we support the Commission's goal of consolidating programs and services into a single, adequately staffed State agency to align and coordinate services, to decrease barriers to access for families and make it easier for them to navigate the system, and to better collect, use, and report comprehensive data to ensure disparities in services are addressed.

(3) To ensure equitable and adequate funding to expand access to high-quality services and increase compensation of this vital workforce, a significant proportion of which are Black and Latinx women. The General Assembly encourages the State to commit to a multi-year plan designed to move the State toward adequate funding over time.

(4) To redesign the mechanisms by which the State pays providers of early childhood education and care services to ensure provider stability, capacity, and quality and to make sure providers and services are available to families throughout the State, including in areas of child care deserts and concentrated poverty.

(5) To ensure comprehensive data on children and families' access to and participation in programs and resulting outcomes, including, but not limited to, kindergarten readiness, to understand and address the degree to which the State is reaching children and families and ensuring equitable opportunity and outcomes.

(c) The General Assembly encourages the State to create a planning process and timeline, with a designated body accountable for implementing the Commission's recommendations, that includes engagement of parents, providers, communities, experts, and other stakeholders and to regularly evaluate the impact of the implementation of the Commission's recommendations to ensure they impact children, families, and communities as intended and lead to a more equitable early childhood education and care system for Illinois.

(Source: P.A. 101-654, eff. 3-8-21.)