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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, Illinois' early childhood education workforce
3faces a teacher recruitment and retention crisis; and
 
4    WHEREAS, Early childhood education in Illinois is an
5economic engine, generating $2.6 billion in revenues annually;
6and
 
7    WHEREAS, Illinois is home to just under one million
8children between the ages of birth and five; and
 
9    WHEREAS, 40 percent of Illinois children live in low-income
10families; and
 
11    WHEREAS, Young children thrive when they have secure,
12positive relationships with adults who are knowledgeable about
13how to support their development and learning and are
14responsive to their individual progress; and
 
15    WHEREAS, The early childhood professionals entrusted with
16the care and education of young children bear a great
17responsibility; and
 
18    WHEREAS, To train, retain, and recruit highly-effective
19early childhood practitioners, we must be responsive to the

 

 

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1needs of current and aspiring workforce members; and
 
2    WHEREAS, The 2017 Illinois Early Childhood Workforce
3Hiring Survey Report found that 47 percent of the programs have
4four or fewer classrooms, while nearly 20 percent have just
5one; and
 
6    WHEREAS, The 2017 report found that turnover rates for lead
7teachers in licensed child care centers were twice as high, 42
8percent, as turnover rates in school-based programs, 21
9percent; and
 
10    WHEREAS, The 2017 report found that 73 percent of
11administrators reported being diverted from their duties to
12fill vacant teacher positions; and
 
13    WHEREAS, The 2017 report found that 66 percent of programs
14reported teacher burnout due to inadequate staff; and
 
15    WHEREAS, The 2017 report found that, on average, it takes
16nearly a quarter of a year to fill a lead infant-toddler
17teacher position, a hiring gap that leaves many of the State's
18youngest children without qualified teachers for months at a
19time; and
 
20    WHEREAS, The 2017 report found that inadequate salary and

 

 

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1benefits were the most frequently cited barriers to hiring and
2retaining qualified staff; and
 
3    WHEREAS, The National Survey of Early Care and Education
4finds that 46 percent of child care workers in Illinois earn
5salaries that qualify them for some public health benefits at a
6cost of $71.4 million to the State; and
 
7    WHEREAS, The 2017 Illinois Network of Child Care Resource
8and Referral Agencies report found that 98.1 percent of head
9teachers are female; and
 
10    WHEREAS, The State of Illinois' obsolete, restrictive
11rules governing early childhood educator hiring qualifications
12discriminate against educators with classroom experience,
13further exacerbating the early childhood education workforce
14crisis; and
 
15    WHEREAS, Early childhood education providers are
16underrepresented on the Illinois Learning Council, the DCFS
17Advisory Council, the DHS Childcare Advisory Council, and the
18Professional Development Advisory Council; and
 
19    WHEREAS, The quality in early childhood education lies
20squarely in the interactions that transpire between teachers
21and children; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Governor JB Pritzker has made early childhood
2education a centerpiece of his agenda; therefore, be it
 
3    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL
4ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we recognize that the
5State's early childhood education workforce is in a state of
6crisis; and be it further
 
7    RESOLVED, That we urge the General Assembly to take action
8to modernize its early childhood education funding and teacher
9qualification standards to address the early childhood
10workforce crisis; and be it further
 
11    RESOLVED, That we urge the Governor of Illinois to increase
12early childhood education provider representation on the
13Illinois Learning Council, the DCFS Daycare Advisory Council,
14the DHS Childcare Advisory Council, and the Professional
15Development Advisory Council to assure provider voices are
16heard as early childhood education policy is developed and
17implemented; and be it further
 
18    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
19presented to the Governor of Illinois, the Speaker of the
20Illinois House of Representatives, the Minority Leader of the
21Illinois House of Representatives, the President of the

 

 

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1Illinois Senate, and the Minority Leader of the Illinois
2Senate.