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CHILDREN
(325 ILCS 75/) Equitable Early Childhood Education and Care Act.

325 ILCS 75/Art. 5

 
    (325 ILCS 75/Art. 5 heading)
Article 5.
(Amendatory provisions; text omitted)
(Source: P.A. 101-654, eff. 3-8-21.)

325 ILCS 75/Art. 10

 
    (325 ILCS 75/Art. 10 heading)
Article 10.
(Amendatory provisions; text omitted)
(Source: P.A. 101-654, eff. 3-8-21.)

325 ILCS 75/Art. 15

 
    (325 ILCS 75/Art. 15 heading)
Article 15.

(Source: P.A. 101-654, eff. 3-8-21.)

325 ILCS 75/15-1

    (325 ILCS 75/15-1)
    Sec. 15-1. Short title. This Article may be cited as the Equitable Early Childhood Education and Care Act. References in this Article to "this Act" mean this Article.
(Source: P.A. 101-654, eff. 3-8-21.)

325 ILCS 75/15-5

    (325 ILCS 75/15-5)
    Sec. 15-5. Findings; policies.
    (a) The General Assembly finds the following:
        (1) Long-standing research shows that high-quality
    
early childhood experiences have an impact on children's short-term and long-term outcomes, such as educational attainment, health, and lifetime income, particularly for children from low-income families.
        (2) Early childhood education and care programs
    
provide child care so parents can maintain stable employment, provide for themselves and their families, and advance their career or educational goals.
        (3) Illinois has a vigorous early childhood education
    
and care industry composed of programs that serve children under the age of 6, including preschool and child care in schools, centers, and homes; these programs also include home visiting and services for young children with special needs.
        (4) A significant portion of the early childhood
    
workforce and of family child care providers are Black and Latinx women.
        (5) Illinois was among the first states in the nation
    
to enact the Pre-K At-Risk program and services for infants and toddlers in the 1980s and reaffirmed this commitment to early childhood education in 2006 by creating Preschool for All to offer State-funded, high-quality preschool to 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds.
        (6) Illinois was one of the first states in the
    
nation to commit education funding to very young children and to have a statutory commitment to grow funding for infant-toddler services as it grows preschool services, including prenatal supports like home visitors and doulas.
        (7) Countless children and families have benefitted
    
from these services over these decades and have had the opportunity to enter school ready to learn and succeed.
        (8) Despite progress made by the State, too few
    
children, particularly those from Black, Latinx, and low-income households and child care deserts, have access to high-quality early childhood education and care services, due to both the availability and affordability of quality services.
        (9) In 2019, only 29% of all children in Illinois
    
entered kindergarten "ready"; only 21% of Black children, 17% of Latinx children, 14% of English Learners, 14% of children with IEPs, and 20% of children on free and reduced lunch demonstrated readiness, highlighting the critical work Illinois must do to close gaps in opportunity and outcomes.
        (10) The State's early childhood education and care
    
programs are maintained across 3 state agencies, which leads to inefficiencies, lack of alignment, challenges to collecting comprehensive data around services and needs of children and families, and obstacles for both children and families and the early childhood education and care providers to navigate the fragmented system and ensure children receive high-quality services that meet their needs.
        (11) The State's current mechanisms for payment to
    
early childhood education and care providers may not incentivize quality services and can lead to payment delays, lack of stability of providers, and the inability of providers to provide appropriate compensation to the workforce and support quality programming.
        (12) Illinois must advance a just system for early
    
childhood education and care that ensures racially and economically equitable opportunities and outcomes for all children.
        (13) In 2017, Illinois became a national leader in
    
passing the K-12 Evidence-Based Funding formula for public schools, creating a mechanism to adequately fund and equitably disburse resources throughout the State and prioritize funding for school districts that need it most.
    (b) The General Assembly supports the following goals of the Illinois Commission on Equitable Early Childhood Education and Care Funding:
        (1) To create a more equitable, efficient, and
    
effective system and thereby increase access to high-quality services, particularly to serve more Black and Latinx children and populations of children where children of color may be disproportionately represented, such as: children from low-income households, with disabilities, experiencing homelessness, and participating in the child welfare system; English learners; and children from households in which English is not the primary language spoken.
        (2) To ensure a more equitable system, we support the
    
Commission's goal of consolidating programs and services into a single, adequately staffed State agency to align and coordinate services, to decrease barriers to access for families and make it easier for them to navigate the system, and to better collect, use, and report comprehensive data to ensure disparities in services are addressed.
        (3) To ensure equitable and adequate funding to
    
expand access to high-quality services and increase compensation of this vital workforce, a significant proportion of which are Black and Latinx women. The General Assembly encourages the State to commit to a multi-year plan designed to move the State toward adequate funding over time.
        (4) To redesign the mechanisms by which the State
    
pays providers of early childhood education and care services to ensure provider stability, capacity, and quality and to make sure providers and services are available to families throughout the State, including in areas of child care deserts and concentrated poverty.
        (5) To ensure comprehensive data on children and
    
families' access to and participation in programs and resulting outcomes, including, but not limited to, kindergarten readiness, to understand and address the degree to which the State is reaching children and families and ensuring equitable opportunity and outcomes.
    (c) The General Assembly encourages the State to create a planning process and timeline, with a designated body accountable for implementing the Commission's recommendations, that includes engagement of parents, providers, communities, experts, and other stakeholders and to regularly evaluate the impact of the implementation of the Commission's recommendations to ensure they impact children, families, and communities as intended and lead to a more equitable early childhood education and care system for Illinois.
(Source: P.A. 101-654, eff. 3-8-21.)

325 ILCS 75/Art. 20

 
    (325 ILCS 75/Art. 20 heading)
Article 20.
(The Data Governance and Organization to Support Equity and Racial Justice Act is compiled at 20 ILCS 65/)
(Source: P.A. 101-654, eff. 3-8-21.)

325 ILCS 75/Art. 25

 
    (325 ILCS 75/Art. 25 heading)
Article 25.
(Amendatory provisions; text omitted)
(Source: P.A. 101-654, eff. 3-8-21.)

325 ILCS 75/Art. 35

 
    (325 ILCS 75/Art. 35 heading)
Article 35.
(The Infant/Early Childhood Mental Health Consultations Act is compiled at 405 ILCS 47/)
(Source: P.A. 101-654, eff. 3-8-21.)

325 ILCS 75/Art. 40

 
    (325 ILCS 75/Art. 40 heading)
Article 40.
(Amendatory provisions; text omitted)
(Source: P.A. 101-654, eff. 3-8-21.)

325 ILCS 75/Art. 45

 
    (325 ILCS 75/Art. 45 heading)
Article 45.
(The Early Childhood Workforce Act is compiled at 325 ILCS 80/)
(Source: P.A. 101-654, eff. 3-8-21.)

325 ILCS 75/Art. 50

 
    (325 ILCS 75/Art. 50 heading)
Article 50.
(Amendatory provisions; text omitted)
(Source: P.A. 101-654, eff. 3-8-21.)

325 ILCS 75/Art. 60

 
    (325 ILCS 75/Art. 60 heading)
Article 60.
(Amendatory provisions; text omitted)
(Source: P.A. 101-654, eff. 3-8-21.)

325 ILCS 75/Art. 65

 
    (325 ILCS 75/Art. 65 heading)
Article 65.
(Amendatory provisions; text omitted)
(Source: P.A. 101-654, eff. 3-8-21.)

325 ILCS 75/Art. 70

 
    (325 ILCS 75/Art. 70 heading)
Article 70.
(Amendatory provisions; text omitted)
(Source: P.A. 101-654, eff. 3-8-21.)

325 ILCS 75/Art. 75

 
    (325 ILCS 75/Art. 75 heading)
Article 75.
(Amendatory provisions; text omitted)
(Source: P.A. 101-654, eff. 3-8-21.)

325 ILCS 75/Art. 85

 
    (325 ILCS 75/Art. 85 heading)
Article 85.
(Amendatory provisions; text omitted)
(Source: P.A. 101-654, eff. 3-8-21.)

325 ILCS 75/Art. 95

 
    (325 ILCS 75/Art. 95 heading)
Article 95.
(The Equity in Higher Education Act is compiled at 110 ILCS 235/)
(Source: P.A. 101-654, eff. 3-8-21.)

325 ILCS 75/Art. 100

 
    (325 ILCS 75/Art. 100 heading)
Article 100.
(The Developmental Education Reform Act is compiled at 110 ILCS 175/)
(Source: P.A. 101-654, eff. 3-8-21.)

325 ILCS 75/Art. 115

 
    (325 ILCS 75/Art. 115 heading)
Article 115.
(Amendatory provisions; text omitted)
(Source: P.A. 101-654, eff. 3-8-21.)

325 ILCS 75/Art. 120

 
    (325 ILCS 75/Art. 120 heading)
Article 120.
(Amendatory provisions; text omitted)
(Source: P.A. 101-654, eff. 3-8-21.)

325 ILCS 75/Art. 125

 
    (325 ILCS 75/Art. 125 heading)
Article 125.
(Amendatory provisions; text omitted)
(Source: P.A. 101-654, eff. 3-8-21.)

325 ILCS 75/Art. 130

 
    (325 ILCS 75/Art. 130 heading)
Article 130.
(The Transitions in Education Act is compiled at 110 ILCS 180/)
(Source: P.A. 101-654, eff. 3-8-21.)

325 ILCS 75/Art. 135

 
    (325 ILCS 75/Art. 135 heading)
Article 135.
(Amendatory provisions; text omitted)
(Source: P.A. 101-654, eff. 3-8-21.)

325 ILCS 75/Art. 145

 
    (325 ILCS 75/Art. 145 heading)
Article 145.
(The Early Education Act is compiled at 325 ILCS 21/)
(Source: P.A. 101-654, eff. 3-8-21.)

325 ILCS 75/Art. 150

 
    (325 ILCS 75/Art. 150 heading)
Article 150.
(Amendatory provisions; text omitted)
(Source: P.A. 101-654, eff. 3-8-21.)

325 ILCS 75/Art. 155

 
    (325 ILCS 75/Art. 155 heading)
Article 155.
(Amendatory provisions; text omitted)
(Source: P.A. 101-654, eff. 3-8-21.)

325 ILCS 75/Art. 999

 
    (325 ILCS 75/Art. 999 heading)
Article 999.

(Source: P.A. 101-654, eff. 3-8-21.)

325 ILCS 75/999-999

    (325 ILCS 75/999-999)
    Sec. 999-999. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.
(Source: P.A. 101-654, eff. 3-8-21.)