Rauner creates cabinet to deal with children's issues

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - Gov. Bruce Rauner has created a special cabinet to streamline education and issues regarding young people across Illinois.

Rauner signed an executive order on Thursday morning at a middle school in Riverton, outside Springfield, creating the Governor's Cabinet on Children and Youth. He says the cabinet will bring together all state entities that deal with children into a central unit. He's calling it the Children's Cabinet.

The governor says he wants the cabinet to make sure state resources are used effectively and working together. State Secretary of Education Beth Purvis says that the current system in Illinois is "fragmented."

The cabinet has nearly 20 members, including the chiefs of state agencies like the Department of Children and Family Services and Department of Juvenile Justice.