| In This Issue Winter 2008 |
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Early Edition Extra
Governor Blagojevich delivered his Fiscal Year 2009 budget address yesterday afternoon. The Governor recommended increases in the Early Childhood Block Grant, the Child Care Assistance Program, Early Intervention, and Children’s Mental Health. This budget contains successes and also leaves some unanswered questions. Read on to learn more about how programs that serve young children fared in the Governor’s proposed budget.
Early Childhood Education Funded through the Early Childhood Block Grant, Preschool for All provides voluntary access to high-quality early learning programs for all 3- and 4-year-olds in The Governor continued to make Preschool for All one of his highest priorities. As part of his proposal to increase education funding by $300 million, he reiterated his commitment to work toward full funding of Preschool for All and increasing the funding available for children birth to three years old an important piece, as the State Board of Education was able to fund only a fraction of the proposals it received last year for new or expanded infant-toddler programs. As in past years, the Governor recommended a lump-sum increase for education and will work with the General Assembly to allocate the proposed $300 million in new funding. In order to keep on track with our preschool goals and direct more funding to at-risk infant-toddler programs, advocates will continue to ask the Governor and members of the General Assembly to act on their commitment to early childhood by allocating $68 million new dollars to reach more young children with high-quality preschool and infant-toddler programs. We are concerned that there is not a guaranteed funding stream proposed to pay for these education increases. Early childhood advocates will press the Governor and General Assembly to find guaranteed revenue to fund education.
Home visiting, a strategy for reaching very at-risk infants, toddlers and their families, offers parents a personalized approach to enhancing children’s readiness to learn. “Parent coaches” work with families on a voluntary basis starting in pregnancy and during the first three years of life to promote early learning, support healthy development, and prevent child abuse.
The Ounce of Prevention Fund has been working with the Governor’s office on expanded funding for home visiting services and expects the Governor’s office will support this expansion in the final budget agreement. Early Childhood advocates will continue to ask legislators to increase funding for these programs by $10 million during budget deliberations in Springfield. This increase, in budgets that have been flat for many years, will allow Illinois to serve 3,000 more children in high-quality home visiting programs, starting them on the trajectory for success in school and life.
The Child Care Assistance Program assists approximately 100,000 low-income working families to pay for child care by providing access to subsidies. The Governor’s budget proposed needed investments in the program by providing a cost-of-doing business increase in provider reimbursement rates. Governor Blagojevich’s budget also recommends funding for the Quality Rating System, a tiered reimbursement system that increases provider payments as programs enhance their quality.
Unfortunately, the proposed budget does not include funding to ensure that child care is affordable for working families. Currently, many low-income families pay a higher percentage of their pay to child care costs than do their higher-income counterparts. Early Childhood Capital Initative
Through Preschool for All,
The Governor has responded to this need by proposing $30 million for early childhood facilities as part of his Capital Budget. All too many children, especially in Latino and other high growth communities, still lack a realistic chance for a truly high-quality learning experience because of space constraints. The Governor’s recommended funding for capital investments in early childhood takes the first significant step toward addressing this barrier to full participation in high-quality early learning for many young children. Children’s Mental Health
The Illinois Children’s Mental Health Partnership (ICMHP) was formed by The Children’s Mental Health Act of 2003. Its Strategic Plan for Building a Comprehensive Children’s Mental Health System in Illinois, published a few years ago, envisions a comprehensive, coordinated children’s mental health system comprised of prevention, intervention and treatment for children birth to 18. In order to fully implement a quality system of mental health care for children, the state needs an additional $14 million to serve all eligible children and families. The Governor’s budget makes progress toward that goal by recommending an increase of $1 million, bringing total funding through the Department of Humans Services to $4 million. Some of the increased funds will be used to expand early childhood mental health services, and help to provide important resources for mental health services for those children who need additional support. This is critical to school success, as research tells us that healthy social and emotional development in the early years is one of the cornerstones of future learning.
Early Intervention The Early Intervention program in The Governor suggested investing an addional $7.4 million in Early Intervention. This incrase means that programs will be better able to meet the growing need for services and reach more young children with delays and disabilities. The Ounce of Prevention home page
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