Early Childhood
Illinois governor plans to boost child care and early childhood education with $250 million proposal
Gov. J.B. Pritzker announces a plan that will give $250 million more toward the state’s early childhood education and child care programs.
Early childhood education needs more funding, say Chicago’s mayoral candidates. However, each candidate’s proposal differs in how to do it.
In his inauguration speech, the governor said he would make college tuition free for working-class families and expand preschool to all Illinois families.
Pritzker said he wants to make Illinois the number one state for making child care accessible to families during his second term in office.
Early childhood education advocates have long argued that low wages prevent child care centers from retaining employees for a long time. A new study finds a gap in wages between early childhood teachers and teachers in kindergarten despite having the same degree.
Illinois is set to receive $760 million over the next 18 years after winning a lawsuit against major pharmaceutical companies for their role in the opioid epidemic. Law enforcement officials want part of the money to go to early childhood programs.
Ahead of the school year, Chicago Public Schools is encouraging families to sign up for its preschool program, which has thousands of open seats.
![[From left to right] A woman in a gray shirt and orange mask holds a child in a pink and blue shirt who is receiving a shot. The child is holding a lollipop while a medical professional in blue gloves holds her right arm.](https://chalkbeat.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/f172777/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4928x2766+0+257/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2F7aykCRstwXQjlBYdcYMoEOcxmyA%3D%2F0x0%3A4928x3280%2F4928x3280%2Ffilters%3Afocal%282464x1640%3A2465x1641%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F23886472%2FChicago_20220719_Vaccines_GettyImages_001.JPG)
Illinois children between 6 months and 5 years old are now eligible for COVID vaccinations. Will child care centers return to normal this fall?
Families are finding more demand than availability in summer camp programs for Chicago children. The pandemic has added to the shortage.
Chalkbeat wants to hear what you’ve been doing this summer for care and any challenges you’ve encountered.
The COVID vaccines will be available after authorization from the Food and Drug Administration Friday and expected approval by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The consideration to lift the mask mandate comes a week after board members voted to uphold safety measures including mask wearing across the district.
Day cares and child care centers can now set their own rules, public health officials said.
‘Something I really needed’: States are revamping reading instruction. Illinois is just catching up.
In Illinois, where curriculum traditionally is the domain of individual districts, the conversation is just getting started.
For the first time since 2020, the Illinois governor has proposed an increase in the state’s education budget with investments for students from preschool to higher education.
In 2022, Illinois will launch 39 regional councils of policymakers, parents, educators, and health care professionals to weigh in on spending in their communities.
Illinois enrollment declines driven by loss of pre-kindergarten, kindergarten students this year.
Illinois early test score results show that the pandemic year took a toll on the state’s youngest learners.
Jeanette Delgado is a dual-language teacher in Urbana District 116. This year she is focused on classroom friendships — and getting her students outside.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said the state will offer three months of free child care for unemployed workers looking for jobs beginning Oct. 1.
With little public understanding yet of the impact of the pandemic on young learners, educators at LEARN Charter Schools’ Hunter Perkins campus are adapting as they go.
The mayor wants an extension for a critical line of Head Start funding that the federal government intends to steer away from city and toward nonprofit organizations.
For some parents, bureaucratic reshuffling at the top makes for a messy reality on the ground,
It remains to be seen whether the change will yield stronger competition, higher quality programs, and more seats for children under 5 in the neighborhoods that need them — or create confusion on the ground.
Pushing out families or urging them to transfer to other programs is a practice researchers call soft transitioning, or counseling out.
In Illinois, low pay and high turnover threaten to destabilize the early childhood workforce. How some want to change that.
While K-12 school districts will see a boost, the early childhood block grant that pays for preschool programs across Illinois will remain flat at $543 million.
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