Preschool for All
Preschool for All places Illinois at the forefront of a national movement to make exceptional early learning available for all children. Signed into law in 2006, the program made Illinois the first state in the nation to offer voluntary, high-quality preschool to all three- and four-year-olds. When fully implemented, Preschool for All will ensure that 190,000 children in Illinois have access to high-quality preschool. With many families earning too much to qualify for state preschool programs but unable to afford private preschool programs, Preschool for All provides opportunities for more children to have a high-quality early childhood development experience.
Components of Preschool for All include:
- Prioritizing at-risk children first
- Setting aside 11 percent of Preschool for All funding for infant-toddler programs that serve at-risk children and families. Currently, Illinois is the only state that grows preschool funding and funding for infant-toddler programs simultaneously
- New resources to ensure quality and accountability in programs and across the system
- New resources to increase research-based child development and family support programs for at-risk infants and toddlers and their families
Preschool for All expands resources to reach more children, and enhance quality in participating schools, child care centers, community organizations, and other settings.
Preschool for All builds on the foundation of the State Pre-Kindergarten and Birth-to-Three programs funded through the Early Childhood Block Grant.
Read the Preschool for All legislation, and the section that governs the Infant-Toddler Set-Aside 
.