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?

Most school districts who participated in the pilot phase, complained that the assessment took up too much valuable teaching time and required teachers to spend too much time away from their classrooms and teaching.  A couple of others felt that the assessment was a good tool that revealed superior qualitative data to their previous system of assessment.

This new tool aims to assess how ready children are when they arrive at kindergarten with a big focus on how the preschools are doing to prepare them.  This is a sticky-wicket. Since we know that development is a bumpy road and each child is unique in their development, it is hard to imagine that an assessment such as this can draw reasonable conclusions about preparedness at the preschool level.

This should come as no surprise to you who work everyday with young children. The era of accountability is alive and well in education and everyone is searching for a reason that children are falling behind.  I, too, would like answers to this question, but I am not sure that a statewide assessment in kindergarten will provide the answers everyone is seeking.

You now have 2-3 years to prepare the children for the KIDS.  Best of luck.

CCDBG

The Child Care and Development Block Grant of 2014 demands additional quality controls, compliance measures, and transparency for all licensed and publically-funded child care.  To see a quick description of the requirements, click on the link above.

The President also called on private companies and philanthropies to invest in Early Childhood.  Many, many people are stepping up to the challenge.  For those of you who support ECE by working in it, you can take the pledge of commitment to the cause without pledging any money. (I believe you recommit yourselves everyday when you step through the door).  Click here to see the Invest in US website.  According to the fact sheet from the Invest in US website, this will provide:

•$330 million in new actions from corporate and philanthropic leaders to expand the
reach and enhance the quality of early education for thousands of additional children.
• Up to $750 million in new federal grant awards announced by Secretaries Duncan and
Burwell, to support early learning for over 63,000 additional children across the country.
These investments will expand high-quality preschool or grow the supply of early care
and education for infants and toddlers beginning next year.
• The launch of Invest in US, a new initiative created by the First Five Years Fund, a
bipartisan non-profit organization, in partnership with private philanthropic leaders, in
response to the President’s call for action.
• New private and philanthropic resources and support for Early Learning Communities, an initiative of Invest in US. Invest in US will connect communities interested in expanding
early learning programs and opportunities with 10 leading partners that have committed
to helping connect leaders with resources, planning grants, technical assistance, and
other support for their youngest learners. (Invest in US Fact Sheet, Nov. 2014)

The new budget also reveals an increase in spending for Head Start, Early Head Start, Home Visiting Programs, Preschool for All, Quality Improvement Initiatives, and Early Learning Comprehensive Services expansions.  This is only a partial list of the new promises.

Take a look at some of these websites to get a complete picture.  Many of these plans will affect you – so find out as much as you can about them.