In an event for media personnel only, Governor JB Pritzker was in Fairfield at Kittie Kollege to showcase the early education portion of his $10.3 Billion Education Budget.
According to Governor Pritzker’s Smart Start Illinois Plan, the additional funding for early childhood education will provide every child with access to preschool, increase funding for childcare providers to raise wages as well as the quality of child care, and reach more vulnerable families with early support and resources. Dr. Jill Andrews started Kiddie Kollege 26 years ago. Prior to the Pritzker Administration, Andrews explained the situation for childcare in Southern Illinois.
During the Rauner administration, in Southern Illinois, nearly 60 child care centers closed due to staffing shortages, leaving 4 counties as child care deserts. With that, Kiddie Kollege was one of 42 test pilot locations in the state for Governor Pritzker’s Accelerate Pilot Program, aimed at improving childcare in the southern portion of the state. Dr. Andrews talks about how the funding from that program has helped her institution
According to information released on reaching the highest risk Children in the state, Wayne County was the highest ranked county in the state in reaching the highest risk, reaching 187% of the at risk children for early learning.
For the budget, officials have increased the budget amount by $570 million increase in K-12 spending, $250 million more for early childhood education, and over $100 million to support students heading to college and those who want to become teachers. Overall, the Illinois State Board of Education budget will be $10.3 billion, a 6.2% increase over last year.
In other key points on the education budget, Lieutenant Governor Julianna Stratton was thanking Governor Pritzker for his investment in early education that also saw an increase of $40 million additional dollars towards Early Intervention Services and another $5 million towards home visit programs, a program Illinois was one of the first to introduce.
Leaders at the event gave credit to Governor Pritzker for balancing the state budget to help fix the crisis in early childhood education.
Kathy Hutchcraft, one of the teachers at Kiddie Kollege, has been working at the childhood education. At one point, she had to leave to find another job that had benefits. Hutchcraft during the press conference touted that she has seen an 80% increase in her pay since the Pilot Program was put in place 3 years ago and is being expanded into the Smart Start Illinois Program.