(The Center Square) – Illinois taxpayers can expect to spend almost $4 billion on early childhood programs throughout the state over the next two years.
The Department of Early Childhood is a new executive agency created last year dedicated to early childhood spending. The new agency will eventually take over the early childhood block grant administered by the Illinois State Board of Education, the Child Care Assistance Program administered by the Department of Human Services, and day care licensing management from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.
During a House hearing in Springfield Tuesday, state Rep. Will Davis, D-Hazel Crest, said legislators have important work to do in starting a new agency.
“And not too often do we get to be part of the idea of building something from the ground up,” Davis said.
State Rep. Blaine Wilhour, R-Beecher City, urged for there to be efficiencies found with the new agency.
“I get concerned about creating new government agencies and that the government bureaucracy will go down,” he said. “I’m hopeful that that’s the case here.”
Department of Early Childhood Secretary Teresa Ramos said they expect the headcount from the agencies they will take responsibilities away from to go down. Various programs will be folded into the new state agency by July 1, 2026.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s proposed budget for the coming fiscal year spends $748 million to maintain the Early Childhood Block Grant. About $200 million would be for Early Childhood Workforce Compensation Contracts. Additional spending includes $85 million more for the Child Care Assistance Program, $3.3 million for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library and $10 million for increased rates for Early Intervention service providers.
Questions weren’t just about spending. Wilhour asked about a slew of materials the agency featured on its website, including titles like “White Fragility,” and “Anti-racist Baby.”
Ramos said those are suggestions.
“Just like the State Board of Education, what curriculum, what books are used in the classroom is a local control issue. It will stay a local control issue,” she said.
State Rep. Martin McLaughlin, R-Barrington Hills, questioned the seriousness of local control, reflecting on a measure approved last year to allow funds to be withheld from local school districts if they ban certain materials.
“We see a direct response of what the governor did to libraries to what the federal administration potentially may do to the state of Illinois,” he said.
Last week, the Illinois State Board of Education said if the Trump administration withholds funding from the state for continuing diversity, equity and inclusion policies, it could mean a more than $2 billion hit.
