State gets $1.6B for early childhood services
Grace Barbic Capitol News Illinois
April 17, 2021
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Gov. J.B. Pritzker
SPRINGFIELD Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Friday that $1.6 billion in federal funding will be allocated toward early childhood education and child care providers in Illinois.
The funds will be provided through the American Rescue Plan passed by Congress in March, Pritzker announced at a news conference in Aurora on Friday, and will include $140 million in direct grants for child care providers to be dispersed over the next three weeks.
This announcement comes as the Illinois Commission on Equitable Early Childhood Education and Care Funding – which Pritzker created in 2019 – released its Ready Illinois report earlier this month with recommendations for an overhaul of early childhood funding in the state.