IL Budget Increase Approved: What This Means for the Marillac St. Vincent Community
Connecting Communities | May 2022
MSV applauds and thanks Governor Pritzker, President of the Senate Harmon, Speaker of the House Welsh, Senator Feigenholz, Senator Van Pelt, Representative Croke and Representative Williams for their support of the FY 23 Illinois State budget. The budget includes a welcome increase of $54.4 million (10% increase) in state funding for preschool, evidence-based home visiting services, and center-based infant-toddler programs funded by the Early Childhood Block Grant (ECBG) at the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE).
This increase will directly and positively impact our ability to provide the highest quality Early Childhood Education (ECE) for the young ones in our care.
Marillac St. Vincent CEO Peter Beale-DelVecchio, along with his peers at other ECE centers advocated for this increase at the ISBE budget hearings back in November 2021. We appreciate that they heard us and see the need and value for the local community.
Beale-DelVecchio shared some thoughts on this budget increase and how it directly affects the community at MSV:
- Parents, teachers and staff at ECE centers and home day cares advocated for state senators and representatives to support the 10% ($54MM) increase. A coordinated campaign by We, The Village, Illinois Actions for Children, and many others, this is great recognition by the Governor and the administration of the need for more funding in Early Childhood Education.
- In December 2019, the Governor established the Illinois Commission on Equitable Early Childhood Education and Care Funding (Early Childhood Funding Commission). That commission found that the $2B per year that is spent on ECE needs to be closer to $14B per year to bring equity to the system and make Illinois a leader in ECE. This increase is a step in the right direction, though somewhat of a down payment on the total investment that needs to be made in ECE for Illinois.
- Some of this funding will help us to raise teachers’ salaries, but by how much, we do not know yet. We are still waiting to hear details about how much the pool will be and what the dollar amount means for each ECE site such as MSV, as the total amount will be spread across the state.
- Our students that utilize the Early Intervention (EI) program will also benefit from increased services and improved quality. The EI serves children birth to 3 years old with occupational and cognitive delays and disabilities.
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