About 200 advocates for early childhood education programs filled the Illinois statehouse recently.
The advocates want $250 million dollars from an infrastructure spending plan for child care facilities around the state. That’s a big boost from the $45 million they got in the last plan a decade ago.
“Part of the problem is that there's not enough space to serve all the children that that need those programs,” said Samir Tanna of Illinois Action for Children. “It‘s important that if communities want to apply for funding and provide the services that families need, that’s there’s actually space, physical space, for these programs to happen."
He says there’s more emphasis on early childhood education. Many school districts have moved to full-day kindergarten, creating demand for all-day preschools. And schools and day cares need more classrooms for both.
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker has yet to introduce a spending plan for the state’s infrastructure.
