Bill Text: IL SR0466 | 2019-2020 | 101st General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Urges the General Assembly to take action to modernize its early childhood education funding and teacher qualification standards to address the early childhood workforce crisis. Urges the Governor of Illinois to increase early childhood education provider representation on the Illinois Learning Council, the DCFS Daycare Advisory Council, the DHS Childcare Advisory Council, and the Professional Development Advisory Council to assure provider voices are heard as early childhood education policy is developed and implemented.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Passed) 2019-11-13 - Resolution Adopted [SR0466 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2019-SR0466-Introduced.html

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

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

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

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

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