Gov. Pat Quinn gave an upbeat State of the State address today, touting his accomplishments and laying out a five-year plan for economic recovery.
Quinn, who was sworn in as governor after former Gov. Rod Blagojevich was impeached and removed from office, recounted the problems he faced when he became governor and the progress he said the state had made in the interim. “Exactly five years ago this day, I was sworn in as governor, at Illinois’ darkest moment. We were facing an unprecedented triple crisis of government corruption, economic collapse and financial instability,” Quinn said. “It was a perfect storm, and it left destruction in its path. We all knew that repairing the damage that had been done over decades would not happen overnight. But over the past five years, we’ve rebuilt one hard step at a time. And we’ve been getting the job done. Illinois is making a comeback.”
Quinn presented broad strokes of a plan that focused on education programs and economic issues. “It’s a blueprint that recognizes that a truly strong economy relies not just on jobs, but also on fairness and inclusion,” he said. “If we follow this blueprint, we’ll do three things: create more jobs, deliver stronger education and build an economy that works for everyone.”
Not surprisingly, Republicans vying for the chance to challenge Quinn in this year’s general election were not impressed by the speech. Their criticisms were similar.
“This afternoon, we heard an election year campaign speech from a governor who’s failing the people of Illinois,” said Bruce Rauner. “We’re one of the worst-run states in America. We have entered an economic death spiral, and Gov. Quinn is trying to cover it up and put a rosy picture on it.” Rauner brushed off questions from reporters regarding negative stories that have recently surfaced about his former investment firm, GTCR Golder Rauner. The company has been linked to neglect cases at nursing homes it invested in.
The venture capitalist from Winnetka today borrowed a line from President Barack Obama. “The attacks, we’ll have plenty of time to talk about them. ‘There’s no there there.’ We’ll be attacked every day in the race. That’s part of politics.” Obama used the “There’s no there there” quote from Gertrude Stein when questions about his administration’s handling of a terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, continued to hound him. “There's no there there. The fact that this keeps on getting churned up, frankly, has a whole lot to do with political motivations,” Obama said at a White House news conference.
Sen. Kirk Dillard, who is from Hinsdale, said Quinn should have addressed the state’s temporary income tax increase, which is set to begin stepping down in 2015, taking billion of dollars of revenue with it. “We’re overtaxed. We are greatly overregulated,” he said to the ideas Quinn put forward.
“That’s not a playbook for success,” Bloomington Sen. Bill Brady said of Quinn’s speech. “Ranking among the worst in the nation is the record of the current administration and the Democrats’ hostility toward the private sector. I didn’t hear any talk about reducing burdensome regulations or lowering the cost of doing business in Illinois through further reforms in our workers' compensation program. I certainly didn’t hear anything about his commitment to cut taxes by allowing his 67 percent income tax increase to expire next year.”
State Treasurer Dan Rutherford, who is from Chenoa, said Quinn’s speech was about what he had expected. “It was what an incumbent governor’s State of the State should be in an election year. It was very optimistic, very positive.” He said that creating a long-term plan is not a bad thing. “I don’t fault long-term planning. As I’ve said more than once on the circuit out there, strategic long-term planning for our state facilities, our capital assets, is extremely important.” However, he said Quinn should have focused more on creating an environment that would encourage private-sector job growth.
While responses to Quinn’s speech were generally tepid. Some Democrats were enthusiastic about the governor’s ideas. “I thought it was an excellent speech,” said Sen. Dan Kotowski of Park Ridge. “I thought the governor did a great job of communicating a vision of what it’s going to take in our state to make sure we address these challenges that are out there, so that we can create jobs and maintain the ones that we have. But also make sure we prepare our young people for a future. He’s identified the challenges we face in our state, and I agree with him. He’s taking them head on.”
But the verdict from other Democrats was less glowing. “It’s just talk. So the legislature will begin the process of crafting the budget and trying to work through these issues. We’ve already started. The people of the state of Illinois are tired of talk. They want action,” said Rep. John Bradley, a Democrat from Marion. Bradley is chair of the House Revenue and Finance Committee, which has preempted Quinn in the past on fiscal issues by proposing a spending cap for the budget before the governor gives his budget address.
Economic Issues
By Jamey Dunn
Quinn pitched several measures targeting businesses and workers, including a proposal to increase the state’s minimum wage. “This year, we really need to get the job done for our fellow citizens who are making the minimum wage of $8.25 per hour. Our minimum wage workers are doing hard work. They’re putting in long hours. Yet in too many instances, they are living in poverty,” he said. “That’s not right. That’s not an Illinois value. And that’s not a fair shake. This is all about dignity and decency. So I said it last year. and I’ll say it again: It’s time to raise Illinois’ minimum wage to at least $10 an hour.”
Quinn called for an increase to the minimum wage last year during his State of the State address.
“I’m pleased that the governor is continuing his message on the minimum wage,” said Maywood Democratic Sen. Kimberly Lightford, who sponsors legislation that would increase the minimum wage. She said she has been negotiating the issue for month with business groups.
Lightford said she knows that it is nearly impossible to expect that the business lobby will support the proposal. “There’s nothing that we can do for a corporation to agree with a minimum wage increase. There will be nothing that you can do. There is no happy medium on an increase.” But she said she has worked to revamp her legislation to give some consideration to businesses.
In perhaps the only surprise in the speech, Quinn also called for workers to get at least two paid sick days. Quinn also said he wants to double the Earned Income Tax Credit, which goes to low-income working families, over the next five years.
Doug Whitley, president and chief executive officer of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, said he was glad the governor’s speech focused on the economy. But he said that adding more business regulations would not help job growth. “I was pleased with the themes [of the governor’s speech], but I was not impressed with the details,” he said.
Whitley said the minimum wage is not meant to sustain a family. He said those jobs are intended to be for young people, students and those looking to supplement their incomes with part-time work. He said he is concerned that if Illinois increases its minimum wage, which is already greater than many other states, it will hurt its ability to compete. “I would rather see the [U.S.] Congress do it than individual states do it,” Whitley said.
Republican leaders agreed. “The minimum wage doesn’t lift people out of poverty. I think the minimum wage is the wrong discussion,” said Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno. “We’re not unsympathetic to the fact that people are making very low wages, but the questions are: Why aren’t people moving into higher wage jobs? How do we create those jobs? And how do we match the talent to get those jobs? So I think focusing only on the minimum wage is a distraction from the real work we need to be doing.”
But proponents say that those living on low wages often also receive help from safety net programs, so taxpayers are in effect being asked to subsidize the cost of workers for private businesses. “Those people will be on government benefits. And they will be relying more on government, and they’ll be relying more on government for services and that costs everybody money,” Kotowski said. “I think people recognize that if you’re working full-time hours but making wages that don’t allow you to feed your family and take care of yourself and pay for the basic necessities of life, there’s something fundamentally wrong.”
Quinn also called for cutting the cost for incorporating a limited liability corporation from $500 to $39. Whitley called that idea “creative and fresh.” But he said: “I’m sure that small businesses will appreciate that. But the magnitude of an increase in the minimum wage and additional required days off will dwarf any savings that that LLC might actually have from a reduction in the fee.”
Some lawmakers said the change might not be realistic, given the state’s budget situation. “What’s the cost to the state of doing that? It’s a great thing to say in a speech, but what’s it going to cost the state?” asked Bradley. “I mean, we’re staring at a really ugly budget scenario coming up and a really difficult fiscal and revenue situation coming up in the near future, and he’s talking about getting rid of money that’s coming in.”
Education initiatives
By Caitlin Rydinski
As part of his address today, Quinn proposed expanding early childhood programs and a college scholarship program, but lawmakers question where the funding for his plans would come from.
Quinn’s “Birth to Five Initiative” looks to provide prenatal care to low-income families, increase access to childhood early education and offer programs that provide parental support. Quinn said his initiative would help taxpayers avoid paying for the cost of medical needs, early intervention, remedial education and grade repetition.
Lightford said Illinois already focuses on early childhood programs from age 3 to 5, so adding prenatal care to age 3 may not be difficult.
“It’s really not as difficult of a challenge getting there,” Lightford said. “I think that the area of the wrap-around services that [Quinn has] included with the prenatal care and the parent involvement piece — I think those are good areas to focus on.”
But Lebanon Republican Sen. Kyle McCarter and other legislators are concerned with where funding will come from.
“I think it’s a great idea, but if you can buy parental support, we would have bought it decades ago. I don’t know how you buy that. That’s a cultural problem,” McCarter said. “Given the situation we are in with the tight budget, he is going to have to cut something else in order to pay for this.”
Wheaton Republican Sen. Michael Connelly said education is important, but he wants to focus on the economy to give students access to better jobs.
“I’ve got a constituent that has a child that is going into a graduate program, and other states … are basically saying Illinois is done. Come to our state. … This is where the future is,” Connelly said of states not only persuading jobs to leave Illinois but also college students.
Quinn also proposed to double the funding for Monetary Award Program scholarships that currently about 140,000 students receive.
Many lawmakers want to see both of those programs funded but are concerned they may lose out to other competing budget interests.
“I hope that we can find a way to fund that program, as well as the MAP grant,” Lightford said, adding that the MAP program helps keep Illinois competitive with other states in having an educated workforce. While Quinn’s initiative is a five-year plan, Lightford said she hopes the MAP funding increase can happen sooner.
With Western Illinois University and several community and private colleges in his district, Sen. John Sullivan said he supports the doubling of MAP grants. “We know that there’s huge demand there. We talked about actually doubling the scholarships. ... I think most people are supportive of that, but I think the next speech that the governor gives will be the budget address. And so, how is he going to pay for some of these new initiatives like the prenatal program,” he said of the budget issue with the state and the ending of the temporary income tax increase. “The governor has introduced some new perspective and new programs, and I’m going to be interested in how he is going to pay for them.”
Many lawmakers and advocates said they want to know more about how the state will be able to provide the finances for Quinn's education proposals and still maintain the programs Illinois has now. “I think it’s really encouraging to have the governor advocating early childhood education,” said Emily Miller, policy and advocacy director for Voices for Illinois Children. But she said she is waiting for the budget address in February to find out how much funding Quinn will propose for education and early childhood programs.
Showing posts with label early childhood education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label early childhood education. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Wednesday, October 09, 2013
Illinois Head Start programs remain open — for now
By Jamey Dunn
So far, most Illinois Head Start Programs have stayed open during the partial shutdown of the federal government, but that could change if the bickering in Congress drags on.
Head Start provides food, medical care and preschool to low-income children. The shutdown left more than 20 Head Start programs serving 19,000 kids nationwide in the lurch because they were set to start their fiscal years and receive grant money on October 1. Some states have stepped in with funding to keep the doors open at Head Start centers. Today, John and Laura Arnold, a wealthy Texas couple, announced that they donated $10 million to help the programs that did not receive federal funds. When federal funding is restored, those agencies plan to repay the Arnolds.
Entities that administer Head Start have different fiscal-year starts for the program because they must submit grant applications and information to obtain their funding each year. Lauri Morrison-Frichtl, executive director of the Illinois Head Start Association, said that if all programs submitted their renewal information at once, it would overwhelm staff responsible for reviewing the applications. “They couldn’t handle all of our Head Start programs at the same time.” No Illinois Head Start centers start their fiscal year on October 1. However, Morrison-Frichtl said that two Head Start operations in the state had trouble getting their funding after the shutdown. Two Rivers Head Start Agency, which serves the Aurora area, was shut down for one day this week but has since reopened after the problems with funding were cleared up. East Central Community Action Agency’s Head Start program also had issues with funds but did not close. “There wasn’t enough staff in [Washington] D.C. to man the system, and so when people were having trouble, there wasn’t anyone there to figure out what was going on.” If the shutdown continues into November, she said that two programs — CEFS Economic Opportunities Corp. in Effingham and Project NOW in East Moline — would see their federal funds cut off. The two organizations serve a combined total of 10 counties and more than 860 children.
This fiscal uncertainty comes after Head Start funding was cut by a little more than 5 percent in March under automatic federal spending reductions known as sequestration. In Illinois 1,700 children were booted from Head Start. “The majority of our programs across the state cut kids,” said Morrison-Frichtl. “There’s huge waiting lists.” And she says as poverty has grown in the state, “the demand is more than ever.” Head Start programs in Illinois have also cut staff hours and benefits, reduced transportation and field trips for kids and cut back on supplies. Morrison-Frichtl said she recently lobbied the Illinois congressional delegation to restore some of the funding cut by the sequester. “I truly believe in a balanced budget. But I also know the way we value and prioritize our spending is important,” she said. “When children — the only meal they get during the day is at Head Start, and they wake up in the morning and are hungry when they come back to school — that should be the priority. ... They deserve a good start before they hit the public school system.” But she said the current political climate does not make her optimistic about having some of the money put back.
Meanwhile, Gov. Pat Quinn’s office announced that 53 Department of Military Affairs employees and 20 Department of Employment Security employees have returned to work. That means that only 23 federally funded state employees are currently laid off. However, Quinn’s office says that more layoffs could come as the shutdown continues.
Quinn wrote a letter to U.S. House Speaker John Boehner and members of the Illinois congressional delegation urging them to end the shutdown. “We need to end the shutdown now. This is not good for our economy. It’s not good for Illinois. It’s not good for any state in the union,” Quinn told reporters earlier this week. “We need some common sense in Washington to end this nonsense.”
So far, most Illinois Head Start Programs have stayed open during the partial shutdown of the federal government, but that could change if the bickering in Congress drags on.
Head Start provides food, medical care and preschool to low-income children. The shutdown left more than 20 Head Start programs serving 19,000 kids nationwide in the lurch because they were set to start their fiscal years and receive grant money on October 1. Some states have stepped in with funding to keep the doors open at Head Start centers. Today, John and Laura Arnold, a wealthy Texas couple, announced that they donated $10 million to help the programs that did not receive federal funds. When federal funding is restored, those agencies plan to repay the Arnolds.
Entities that administer Head Start have different fiscal-year starts for the program because they must submit grant applications and information to obtain their funding each year. Lauri Morrison-Frichtl, executive director of the Illinois Head Start Association, said that if all programs submitted their renewal information at once, it would overwhelm staff responsible for reviewing the applications. “They couldn’t handle all of our Head Start programs at the same time.” No Illinois Head Start centers start their fiscal year on October 1. However, Morrison-Frichtl said that two Head Start operations in the state had trouble getting their funding after the shutdown. Two Rivers Head Start Agency, which serves the Aurora area, was shut down for one day this week but has since reopened after the problems with funding were cleared up. East Central Community Action Agency’s Head Start program also had issues with funds but did not close. “There wasn’t enough staff in [Washington] D.C. to man the system, and so when people were having trouble, there wasn’t anyone there to figure out what was going on.” If the shutdown continues into November, she said that two programs — CEFS Economic Opportunities Corp. in Effingham and Project NOW in East Moline — would see their federal funds cut off. The two organizations serve a combined total of 10 counties and more than 860 children.
This fiscal uncertainty comes after Head Start funding was cut by a little more than 5 percent in March under automatic federal spending reductions known as sequestration. In Illinois 1,700 children were booted from Head Start. “The majority of our programs across the state cut kids,” said Morrison-Frichtl. “There’s huge waiting lists.” And she says as poverty has grown in the state, “the demand is more than ever.” Head Start programs in Illinois have also cut staff hours and benefits, reduced transportation and field trips for kids and cut back on supplies. Morrison-Frichtl said she recently lobbied the Illinois congressional delegation to restore some of the funding cut by the sequester. “I truly believe in a balanced budget. But I also know the way we value and prioritize our spending is important,” she said. “When children — the only meal they get during the day is at Head Start, and they wake up in the morning and are hungry when they come back to school — that should be the priority. ... They deserve a good start before they hit the public school system.” But she said the current political climate does not make her optimistic about having some of the money put back.
Meanwhile, Gov. Pat Quinn’s office announced that 53 Department of Military Affairs employees and 20 Department of Employment Security employees have returned to work. That means that only 23 federally funded state employees are currently laid off. However, Quinn’s office says that more layoffs could come as the shutdown continues.
Quinn wrote a letter to U.S. House Speaker John Boehner and members of the Illinois congressional delegation urging them to end the shutdown. “We need to end the shutdown now. This is not good for our economy. It’s not good for Illinois. It’s not good for any state in the union,” Quinn told reporters earlier this week. “We need some common sense in Washington to end this nonsense.”
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Quinn to sign bill lowering required school enrollment age
By Meredith Colias
Children will soon be required to start school earlier under a bill that passed the Illinois Senate today.
Senate Bill 1307 would push the required starting age for children one year earlier. Currently, children must start school in Illinois by age 7. Starting in the 2014-2015 school year, they would be required to enroll by age 6. A spokesman for Gov. Pat Quinn said he would sign the bill, calling it “investment in their future” for schoolchildren.
Parents would have the choice to enroll their children in public school, parochial school or home school. Chicago Democrat Sen. Kimberly Lightford sponsored the bill and said starting children earlier would give them a better chance to excel in school. “We value early childhood education in this state. The earlier they learn,” the better chance they have to succeed later in life, she said. Lightford said the change was not meant to be a one size fits all solution for children. If incoming students were more advanced than the kindergarten level, they could be allowed to start first grade by age 6.
Okawville Republican Rep. David Luechtefeld said the state should not restrict parents’ ability to decide when it is best to start their kids in school. As a former educator, he said he often advised parents to hold their children back if they thought they did not have the maturity yet to spend the day in school. “Holding a kid back is not all bad,” he said. Early childhood education advocates for lower-income children cite the benefits of enrolling them earlier in school. Parents are their children's first teachers and can lay the groundwork for their child's academic success well before their child gets to school. Many lower-income parents work long hours and may lack the resources to prepare their kids properly for school. “I understand that, I really do,” Luechtefeld said. “That is a concern. It's looking at it from a different perspective.” He said good parents should be able to use their good judgment. “I just want to give parents that opportunity,” he said.
Children will soon be required to start school earlier under a bill that passed the Illinois Senate today.
Senate Bill 1307 would push the required starting age for children one year earlier. Currently, children must start school in Illinois by age 7. Starting in the 2014-2015 school year, they would be required to enroll by age 6. A spokesman for Gov. Pat Quinn said he would sign the bill, calling it “investment in their future” for schoolchildren.
Parents would have the choice to enroll their children in public school, parochial school or home school. Chicago Democrat Sen. Kimberly Lightford sponsored the bill and said starting children earlier would give them a better chance to excel in school. “We value early childhood education in this state. The earlier they learn,” the better chance they have to succeed later in life, she said. Lightford said the change was not meant to be a one size fits all solution for children. If incoming students were more advanced than the kindergarten level, they could be allowed to start first grade by age 6.
Okawville Republican Rep. David Luechtefeld said the state should not restrict parents’ ability to decide when it is best to start their kids in school. As a former educator, he said he often advised parents to hold their children back if they thought they did not have the maturity yet to spend the day in school. “Holding a kid back is not all bad,” he said. Early childhood education advocates for lower-income children cite the benefits of enrolling them earlier in school. Parents are their children's first teachers and can lay the groundwork for their child's academic success well before their child gets to school. Many lower-income parents work long hours and may lack the resources to prepare their kids properly for school. “I understand that, I really do,” Luechtefeld said. “That is a concern. It's looking at it from a different perspective.” He said good parents should be able to use their good judgment. “I just want to give parents that opportunity,” he said.
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
House considers early childhood education
By Meredith Colias
The Illinois House today considered legislation that could shape the early childhood education of some students in the state.
The chamber approved House Bill 2762, which would require children to start school if they are going to turn 7 any time during the school year. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Sue Scherer, a Decatur Democrat, said clarifying the starting time for school-age children would help elementary schools enforce truancy laws in cases where parents take advantage of the fact that the state technically does not require their soon-to-be 7-year-old child to attend school. Scherer said parents sometimes tell truancy officers that their children are not “really truant.”
Opponents of the bill said a parent should have the final say about when they believe their child is ready to attend school. “At this point in the child’s life, the parent can make a very wise decision based upon what they know on the maturity of the child,” said Rep. Mike Bost, a Murphysboro Republican. Bost said the measure is “forcing the situation where we, the state, feel that we are better than the parents themselves.” Scherer said the cost of the change would be difficult to estimate because it is uncertain how many affected children are not attending school. “There’s just no way of knowing until we actually we do it,” she said. Senate Bill 1307, which would move the school age from 7 to 5, could also soon come up for a vote in that chamber.
A House committee today considered the pros and cons of requiring kindergarten for all school-age children. House Bill 2405 would require all districts to provide kindergarten classes for the entire school day. More than 85 percent of school districts already offer full-day kindergarten classes to students, according to the Illinois Federation of Teachers. Paula Corrigan-Halpern from Voices for Illinois Children said that because the Common Core curriculum being introduced in Illinois schools will require children to show a broader array of learning as they progress, it is important for them to be better academically prepared early on. “There are going to be skills that kids have to master in kindergarten,” she said.
Low-income and disadvantaged children would potentially benefit the most from the proposal because they tend to be most affected academically if they do not start school at an early age. They can enter school less ready to begin subjects such as reading and math because they typically have lower vocabularies and less developed cognitive skills than their peers from higher-income homes. Better-educated parents are usually more prepared to know how to encourage their children’s early cognitive development, giving them an academic advantage when they actually enter school. The State Board of Education (ISBE) estimates that 49 percent of Illinois students live in poverty, according to a recent analysis.
A main issue with the proposal for full-day kindergarten is the potential cost. An ISBE spokeswoman said the board does not have an estimate on the cost of extending full-time kindergarten statewide, although she said the money to implement it would potentially come from General State Aid. Laura Farr of Chicago Public Schools, which is beginning a similar initiative, estimated the citywide program would cost about $15 million and affect 30,700 children. Farr said providing early childhood education is “an essential part of getting kids a learning base.”
Mike Chamness of the Illinois Association of School Administrators said the decision to offer kindergarten classes should rest with local districts. Because the state is prorating General State Aid further from 89 percent in FY2013 to 82 percent in FY2014, he said districts could not afford to pick up the cost. “There are a lot of good ideas out there, and those good ideas cost money,” he said. Chamness said districts are already struggling with how to deal with budget cuts from the state, and many are in the process of cutting further programs and potentially laying off staff. “It’s like holding a dam: You plug a hole and another one bursts open,” he said. “That’s what local districts are facing right now.”
The committee chairwoman, Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia, an Aurora Democrat, said she supports the idea, but said lawmakers would have to resolve the money question. “It’s almost child abuse if we don’t do it,” she said. “It’s just a question of money.”
The Illinois House today considered legislation that could shape the early childhood education of some students in the state.
The chamber approved House Bill 2762, which would require children to start school if they are going to turn 7 any time during the school year. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Sue Scherer, a Decatur Democrat, said clarifying the starting time for school-age children would help elementary schools enforce truancy laws in cases where parents take advantage of the fact that the state technically does not require their soon-to-be 7-year-old child to attend school. Scherer said parents sometimes tell truancy officers that their children are not “really truant.”
Opponents of the bill said a parent should have the final say about when they believe their child is ready to attend school. “At this point in the child’s life, the parent can make a very wise decision based upon what they know on the maturity of the child,” said Rep. Mike Bost, a Murphysboro Republican. Bost said the measure is “forcing the situation where we, the state, feel that we are better than the parents themselves.” Scherer said the cost of the change would be difficult to estimate because it is uncertain how many affected children are not attending school. “There’s just no way of knowing until we actually we do it,” she said. Senate Bill 1307, which would move the school age from 7 to 5, could also soon come up for a vote in that chamber.
A House committee today considered the pros and cons of requiring kindergarten for all school-age children. House Bill 2405 would require all districts to provide kindergarten classes for the entire school day. More than 85 percent of school districts already offer full-day kindergarten classes to students, according to the Illinois Federation of Teachers. Paula Corrigan-Halpern from Voices for Illinois Children said that because the Common Core curriculum being introduced in Illinois schools will require children to show a broader array of learning as they progress, it is important for them to be better academically prepared early on. “There are going to be skills that kids have to master in kindergarten,” she said.
Low-income and disadvantaged children would potentially benefit the most from the proposal because they tend to be most affected academically if they do not start school at an early age. They can enter school less ready to begin subjects such as reading and math because they typically have lower vocabularies and less developed cognitive skills than their peers from higher-income homes. Better-educated parents are usually more prepared to know how to encourage their children’s early cognitive development, giving them an academic advantage when they actually enter school. The State Board of Education (ISBE) estimates that 49 percent of Illinois students live in poverty, according to a recent analysis.
A main issue with the proposal for full-day kindergarten is the potential cost. An ISBE spokeswoman said the board does not have an estimate on the cost of extending full-time kindergarten statewide, although she said the money to implement it would potentially come from General State Aid. Laura Farr of Chicago Public Schools, which is beginning a similar initiative, estimated the citywide program would cost about $15 million and affect 30,700 children. Farr said providing early childhood education is “an essential part of getting kids a learning base.”
Mike Chamness of the Illinois Association of School Administrators said the decision to offer kindergarten classes should rest with local districts. Because the state is prorating General State Aid further from 89 percent in FY2013 to 82 percent in FY2014, he said districts could not afford to pick up the cost. “There are a lot of good ideas out there, and those good ideas cost money,” he said. Chamness said districts are already struggling with how to deal with budget cuts from the state, and many are in the process of cutting further programs and potentially laying off staff. “It’s like holding a dam: You plug a hole and another one bursts open,” he said. “That’s what local districts are facing right now.”
The committee chairwoman, Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia, an Aurora Democrat, said she supports the idea, but said lawmakers would have to resolve the money question. “It’s almost child abuse if we don’t do it,” she said. “It’s just a question of money.”
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Advocates for children ask for budget cuts to be restored
By Meredith Colias
Advocates for early childhood education, bilingual education and homeless student assistance programs appealed to Illinois lawmakers today to restore some funding cut in previous years.
Early childhood education advocates asked for the biggest restoration of funds, $25 million to an early childhood block grant. Under Gov. Pat Quinn’s proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2014, early childhood education would be spared further cuts like those enacted in prior years, and current funding levels would be continued.
Citing the importance of early childhood education, Morgan County Sheriff Randy Duvendack said the state was not providing adequate funding. Duvendack said early childhood education in schools was necessary for the development of “critical, early social skills” for young, disadvantaged children to discourage criminal activity later in life. He said cuts to state funding meant that about 22,000 children were dropped from state-supported preschool programs since 2009.
Marvin Torres of the Latino Policy Forum said as the state’s childhood poverty rate increases, funding for early childhood education is needed to bridge gaps for disadvantaged children in kindergarten who start school as much as six months academically behind their peers. Nancy Radner, director of policy for the nonprofit Ounce of Prevention program, told lawmakers that early childhood education was “an investment that pays off.” Radner said preparing students to do better in school sooner prevents unnecessary placements later in special education. It also reduces the number of students who have to repeat grades, and it lessens teacher turnover. Citing reduced funding in recent years, she said, “We would like to see some of the ground regained.”
Torres also testified in support of funding for bilingual education programs. He estimated 304 schools in 88 counties across the state had children who do not speak English as their primary language. In 2012, Torres estimated that the number of students in the state for whom English is a second language grew from 146,000 in 2004 to about 200,000 in 2012, while funding from state state government has remained flat since 2011.
Patricia Nix-Hodes of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless asked for $3 million that is not included in Gov. Pat Quinn’s budget to provide support for homeless students to remain in school. She said the homeless student population is also growing, and that money to fund staff is needed to provide services to ensure that students are able to attend school on a regular basis.
Advocates for early childhood education, bilingual education and homeless student assistance programs appealed to Illinois lawmakers today to restore some funding cut in previous years.
Early childhood education advocates asked for the biggest restoration of funds, $25 million to an early childhood block grant. Under Gov. Pat Quinn’s proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2014, early childhood education would be spared further cuts like those enacted in prior years, and current funding levels would be continued.
Citing the importance of early childhood education, Morgan County Sheriff Randy Duvendack said the state was not providing adequate funding. Duvendack said early childhood education in schools was necessary for the development of “critical, early social skills” for young, disadvantaged children to discourage criminal activity later in life. He said cuts to state funding meant that about 22,000 children were dropped from state-supported preschool programs since 2009.
Marvin Torres of the Latino Policy Forum said as the state’s childhood poverty rate increases, funding for early childhood education is needed to bridge gaps for disadvantaged children in kindergarten who start school as much as six months academically behind their peers. Nancy Radner, director of policy for the nonprofit Ounce of Prevention program, told lawmakers that early childhood education was “an investment that pays off.” Radner said preparing students to do better in school sooner prevents unnecessary placements later in special education. It also reduces the number of students who have to repeat grades, and it lessens teacher turnover. Citing reduced funding in recent years, she said, “We would like to see some of the ground regained.”
Torres also testified in support of funding for bilingual education programs. He estimated 304 schools in 88 counties across the state had children who do not speak English as their primary language. In 2012, Torres estimated that the number of students in the state for whom English is a second language grew from 146,000 in 2004 to about 200,000 in 2012, while funding from state state government has remained flat since 2011.
Patricia Nix-Hodes of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless asked for $3 million that is not included in Gov. Pat Quinn’s budget to provide support for homeless students to remain in school. She said the homeless student population is also growing, and that money to fund staff is needed to provide services to ensure that students are able to attend school on a regular basis.
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