Pritzker calls for universal preschool in Illinois by 2027

SPRINGFIELD - Gov. J.B. Pritzker called Wednesday for making preschool available to every 3- and 4-year-old in the state within four years, starting with a $440 million investment to bring 5,000 additional children into the program this fall.

Details about the "Smart Start Illinois" program dominated the fifth annual State of the State and budget address by the Democratic governor, who easily won reelection in November and has hinted at an eventual presidential bid.

"It will make our state the best place in the nation to raise young children," Pritzker said in the speech to a joint session of the legislature.

The program's introduction followed quickly on the governor's boasts of tens of billions of dollars in debt elimination he and lawmakers accomplished in his first term after a disastrous two-year budget stalemate between Democrats who control the Legislature and his Republican predecessor.

Pritzker envisions a four-year plan in which annual increases in funding - although smaller than in the initial year - would make room for the approximately 20,000 children whose families want pre-kindergarten options but can't get them because of a lack of space.

In the first year, $75 million would go toward the existing account funding pre-K, a 12.5% increase in the budget that currently serves 89,000 kids. That funds space for the additional 5,000 learners, all outside Chicago. Chicago Public Schools have their own preschool program.

But the plan goes beyond classroom learning. There's $40 million for early intervention when a child is found with a learning impediment, such as a speech delay, and $5 million for Department of Human Services home visits to help families with parenting, school and more.

"We're attempting to cover the lowest-income kids who don't have spots available to them first, but it will also depend upon where the availability (of space) can be made in this fiscal year," Pritzker said. "There may be places where it will take us a couple of years to build out the capability."

In a Tuesday briefing with news reporters, he insisted the time is ripe for opening the school door to more kids earlier in life, citing academic studies projecting that there's a potential return of as much as $7 for every $1 invested in early education.

"It's a plan that will make our system more equitable, focusing in particular on children and families who have less ability to access quality programs, and investing in a workforce made up largely of women and people of color," Pritzker said.

Republicans aren't convinced that the time is right for new spending. House Minority Leader Tony McCombie, a Savanna Republican, noted that Pritzker's own budget office predicts a fiscal 2024 revenue drop of $1.42 billion, while the governor proposes $2.75 billion in spending increases.

"This will require future tax increases or cuts to vital programs serving our most vulnerable." McCombie said.

Senate GOP Leader John Curran of Downers Grove echoed the call, although he embraces some increase in early childhood spending and bemoaned the underfunding of programs for the developmentally disabled.

The budget includes $100 million to build facilities to house the expanded preschool programs. There's $70 million to expand participation in child care for parents who need to work or attend school by increasing the income threshold, and $20 million to revamp the provider-payment system.

Critically important is $130 million for what Pritzker says would be a first-in-the-nation "Childcare Workforce Compensation Contract" to lure providers to an understaffed field, give it stability and increase providers' pay over four years to as much as $19 an hour.

About 10 states offer universal preschool, including neighboring Wisconsin. Colorado is gearing up to offer it this fall, and Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last week proposed $300 million for schooling, hiring teachers and transporting 5,600 4-year-olds.

Pritzker declined to discuss other initiatives he would propose in the coming year after a $50 billion budget in the current year.

As a dramatic aside to his education plans, the Democrat ended with a stinging rebuke of hate, bigotry and censorship, proselytizing beyond the state's borders as he's done previously and which has fueled speculation about his future political plans. The state's third Jewish governor decried a "virulent strain of nationalism" fed by idealogues claiming "that they would protect our children - but whose real intention is to marginalize people and ideas they don't like."

The best education available is "all meaningless if we become a nation that bans books from school libraries about racism suffered by Roberto Clemente and Hank Aaron," Pritzker said, "and tells kids they can't talk about being gay and signals to Black and brown people and Asian Americans and Jews and Muslims that our authentic stories can't be told."

Taking on homelessness and hunger, Pritzker plans a $50 million increase, to $350 million, on prevention, crisis help and housing units. There would be $50 million more for grocery assistance for those needing it. And he wants $20 million to encourage homegrown supermarkets by cities or other groups, acknowledging that state incentives to draw major chains has failed.