The legislative session began anew in Springfield amid serious budget woes and an endorsement of early childhood education by the governor.

The Illinois General Assembly convened in mid-January for Governor Pat Quinn’s State of the State address. Though criticized by some for lacking specific detail about the state’s financial woes, the governor’s speech clearly affirmed his commitment to early childhood education. During the speech, Gov. Quinn said that it was critical for Illinois to invest in education from the beginning of life and he quoted research by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, stating that early childhood education is the best investment government can make. He also praised the inclusion of $45 million for early childhood facilities in last year’s capital plan.

While it is a victory that Gov. Quinn strongly supported early childhood education in his address, we have much work to be done this legislative session. There is great concern about the fiscal year 2011 budget, which will be developed this spring. The deficit is projected to reach nearly $13 billion dollars, nearly half of the overall state-funded portion of the state’s operating budget.

Of more immediate concern to early childhood providers is the inability of the state to pay its bills for the current fiscal year. Most providers have received little, if any, of contracted funds for fiscal year 2010. In December, Comptroller Dan Hynes wrote an open letter to Illinois service providers, saying that his office had $4.4 billion of unpaid obligations. Many providers are still waiting on these funds and are having a difficult time keeping programs afloat.

The good news is legislation is likely to pass the General Assembly today that would move the governor's budget address to March 10. This legislation would provide the public unprecedented access to information about the state's financial situation. It will require the governor's office to post information online about the state's current and projected revenues, including obligations for FY 2010 and FY 2011, by March 24. Legislators and the public will have the opportunity to provide comments online about the state's budget and its priorities. We will update you as information becomes available on this pending legislation.

As early childhood providers continue to wait for necessary funds, the Responsible Budget Coalition is calling on state leaders to implement comprehensive tax reform that raises more adequate revenue and makes taxes fairer, so that Illinois can fulfill its financial obligations to all education and human services programs. The Responsible Budget Coalition attests that this fiscal crisis, brought on by a long-standing structural budget deficit and an economic downturn, cannot be solved without significant new revenue. The coalition’s We Can’t Wait campaign gives individuals and programs an easy way to tell their story and to mobilize communities. The coalition is also holding a rally next Wednesday, February 17 in Springfield at the state capitol.

As always, the Ounce of Prevention Fund is working hard this legislative session to promote support and expansion of early childhood initiatives in Illinois. We will keep you updated as issues and advocacy opportunities arise. Below is a preview of the issues that the Ounce is working on this session.

• Pass a comprehensive tax reform bill – Create and pass a comprehensive tax reform bill that includes the mix of revenue options in HB174 and provides a dedicated percentage of tax revenues for early childhood programs.

•  Protect investments in early childhood – Protect the Early Childhood Block Grant and funding for child care and home visiting programs through the Department of Human Services.

• Ensure that the Early Childhood Capital Grant is accessible in communities with the greatest need for new and expanded facilities – Pass clean-up language to reduce the level of matching funds required for early childhood capital grants.

• Remove sunset language from Preschool for All statute – Continue Illinois’ leadership on early childhood initiatives and remove the sunset language from the Preschool for All statute.

Download our complete legislative agenda (pdf).

On Feb. 1, President Barack Obama proposed increasing funding for several early childhood services in his fiscal year 2011 budget request. President Obama also proposed new early childhood initiatives that he would like Congress to enact. The budget included:

• An additional $989 million for Head Start and Early Head Start to continue to serve the 64,000 children and families funded through last year’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. This brings the total budget for Head Start and Early Head Start to $8.2 billion.

• $1.6 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant to allow states to provide child-care subsidies to an additional 235,000 children and working families across the nation. $102 million in new funding was allocated for quality activities, including $37 million for activities that improve the quality of infant/toddler care.

• A reiteration of the president’s commitment to the Early Learning Challenge Fund. The fund, passed the House in September and awaiting action in the Senate, will help states improve the quality of early childhood programs and help children enter school ready to succeed.

• Doubling the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit to help many working parents across the nation afford the costs of child care.

• $210 million for Promise Neighborhoods, a program that would be modeled after the Harlem Children’s Zone. Promise Neighborhoods would support comprehensive programs that address the needs of children and youth in a targeted area from before they are born to their attendance in college.

• A $3 billion increase for programs authorized under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (more recently known as the No Child Left Behind Act). However, it is unclear whether these funds will include explicit support for early childhood education.

• Flat funding at fiscal year 2010 levels for IDEA Part B and Part C, which provide early intervention services for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers.

President Obama’s budget request is the first step in the federal budget process. Next, Congress will develop its budget blueprint.

In addition to the budget process, the Ounce is monitoring several important policy changes. Currently, significant federal funding for home visiting programs remains a part of health care legislation passed by both the Senate and House. As legislators consider new options to pass health care reform, we will continue to advocate for the president’s vision of making home visitation a priority. Congress also is scheduled to reauthorize two pieces of key legislation: the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and the Child Care and Development Block Grant.

As federal legislation that affects young children moves forward, we will keep you updated with news and advocacy opportunities.

For the first time, the Illinois State Board of Education is considering rule changes that will improve how preschoolers are served in bilingual education programs. In light of this development, this edition’s Focus on the Issue article highlights the needs of preschoolers who are English language learners.

A preschooler is considered an English language learner if he or she is attaining proficiency in two or more languages at the same time. Most often the children are continuing to develop their non-English home language while being exposed to English in early childhood settings and their communities. During the years from birth to age five, children who are English language learners are still acquiring the basic knowledge of their first language even as they acquire knowledge of English as a second language.

Research shows that language is a primary vehicle for children to attain cognitive concepts and school readiness skills. Language also passes on information about family belonging, history, and cultural values. For success in school and in learning English, the ongoing development of a child’s home language is critical. Families should be encouraged to communicate with their children in their home language, which increases the children’s transferable understanding as they develop new vocabulary and concepts in their second language. Children learn about emotions, ideas, and beliefs in the language in which they have active experiences and then develop vocabulary in their second language to define and describe those concepts.

ISBE’s rule changes are timely given that the population of immigrants in Illinois has risen dramatically over the past 20 years, with close to half of these new residents arriving from Latin American countries (The Blueprint for Latino Investment). Historically, new immigrants have settled in urban areas, but more recently immigrant families are settling in suburban counties around Chicago and in smaller communities across the state. Between 2004 and 2008 the number of English language learners in Illinois public schools outside of Chicago increased by 34%, compared to 5% in the City of Chicago.

The Illinois Early Learning Council has begun work to ensure that early childhood programs and school districts across the state have the tools to support children whose home language is not English. In September 2008, two committees of the Council (the Linguistic & Cultural Diversity and Workforce Development committees) drafted recommendations on strategies for more effectively preparing early childhood teachers in two- and four-year institutions to better meet the needs of English language learners. Illinois was also selected to participate in an early childhood professional development project through the National Professional Development Center on Inclusion (NPDCI) at the University of North Carolina’s Frank Porter Graham Institute. The NPDCI project gives Illinois a unique opportunity to further develop early childhood professional training opportunities and practices that focus on children who are culturally and linguistically diverse as well as those with disabilities.

Recognizing the need to more successfully engage young English Language Learners and their families, national early childhood policy groups have updated teacher preparation and professional development efforts, early learning standards, and assessment tools. In 2008 the Office of Head Start published Dual Language Learning: What Does It Take?, an in depth look into the unique needs, challenges, and opportunities related to supporting bilingual and multilingual children. In 2009, the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) published the results of their Quality Benchmark for Cultural Competence Project, which determined the key elements of cultural competence for early childhood programs and ways to meaningfully integrate these concepts within quality rating and improvement systems criteria.

Given the state’s budget woes, it is more important than ever for families and providers to tell their legislators how important early learning programs are. Please join the Ounce of Prevention Fund and Healthy Families Illinois for Early Childhood Advocacy Day to talk to your legislators in person in Springfield.

Early Childhood Advocacy Day
April 14
President Abraham Lincoln Hotel and Conference Center
Springfield, Illinois
6:30 a.m.: Bus leaves from Chicago to Springfield
10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.: Advocacy Day activities

At this free event, you’ll learn about current legislative and budget issues involving Preschool for All, home visiting, and child care. You will also network with colleagues from around the state, visit the historic Illinois State Capitol, and get energized to advocate for young children and their families.

Providers, home visitors, teachers, administrators, parents, students, and supporters are encouraged to attend.

Whether you can make it to Springfield or not, please participate in our Advocacy Day project: Illinois Early Childhood Dollars. This fun project for children and families will drive home the message to our legislators that our children’s education is a priceless investment.

Currently school boards and other local policymakers are deciding how to appropriate funds for next fiscal year. Now is a great time to talk about the benefits of early childhood services at school board meetings and other public forums.  Below are a few research talking points about the importance of early childhood as a critical foundation for later learning.

1.) High-quality early education programs are proven to:

• Help children enter kindergarten with the skills needed to succeed in school
• Increase high-school graduation rates
• Reduce long-term costs for special education, grade retention, public assistance, and other costs.

2.) The academic achievement gap between low-income children and their peers is evident as early as 18 months. Early childhood programs help level the playing field for low-income children and prepare them for success throughout their school years.

3.) 85% of brain development happens in the first five years of life. The quality of brain development during those early years creates a foundation for future learning, development, and behavior patterns.

Social Emotional Development in Early Childhood – What Every Policymaker Should Know
This National Center for Children in Poverty brief provides an overview of critical issues concerning the social and emotional development of young children, including family and environmental risk factors, child welfare, and mental health and early intervention services.
 

Doing Better for Children (2009)
This Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development report recommends that the U.S. government spend more money on children in the first six years of their lives.

 Extending Home Visiting to Kinship Caregivers and Family, Friend, and Neighbor Caregivers
CLASP’s new report explores how home visiting programs are serving children in a variety of care settings and discusses matters of curricula, staffing, and service referral.

Each year, the Ounce of Prevention Fund sponsors a pre-service conference for our Head Start and Early Head Start delegate and partner agencies. We are seeking presenters for workshops in the areas of education, disabilities, mental health, family and community services, program design and management, health, nutrition, and ERSEA. .

Charting Progress for Babies in Child Care
Redesigned web pages for this CLASP project explain its policy recommendations that support the healthy development of infants and toddlers in child care settings.

Illinois The Responsible Budget Coalition is holding a rally next Wednesday, February 17 in Springfield at the state capitol.

Illinois Action for Children will be hosting the 13th Spring into Action Annual Public Policy Conference on March 23-24 in Springfield. .