1.  The City Colleges of Chicago has announced that they are closing 5 of the 6 child development programs across the city.  The only child development program that will be left will be housed at Truman College on the north side.  This will drastically limit access to affordable early childhood education to people who want to become teachers of young children on the south and southwest sides of the city.  To get involved, you can sign the petition here, and read more here and here.

2.  Governor Rauner continues to threaten the Child Care Assistance Program.  Yesterday, the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules failed to stop his plan.   Read about it here at Progress Illinois.

3.  Over 450 people were notified of layoffs at Chicago Public Schools over the past 2 days. Read about that here.

There are other troubling decisions being made but I thought I would focus on these big three.  Everyone will be affected in some way by the three decisions above, so it is now time to get educated, speak up, and speak out for the children and families you serve, for your teachers, for your friends, for your neighbor’s children, for your own children, and for your grandchildren.

Read more about the goings-on of Illinois politics here at the Better Government Association.

But alas, it has not.  As of today, this program has completely run out money… and I mean OUT OF MONEY. Before leaving office, Governor Quinn knew (possibly?) that this day was coming.  Some believe that he intentionally did this, knowing that in his next term unfunded childcare, loss of work, and general statewide devastation would provide the necessary arguments for raising taxes.(see Tuesday, February 10, 2015 Chicago Tribune for more details).  But he didn’t win the reelection, and the new Governor may or may not find the money to cover this shortfall.

What does this mean for the citizens of Illinois.  For those families who receive assistance – they receive this in the form of reduced cost for their childcare needs based on a sliding scale of need – there won’t be assistance anymore.  For centers, this means that the state will not pick up the shortfall for every child who qualifies.  This might mean centers will close, classrooms will close, parents may lose their jobs, children will no longer have a quality program to attend so their parents can work, and good teachers will lose their jobs.

How are you communicating this potentially devastating situation to your families? How are you and your center handling this?