Overview

In December 2019, the Governor appointed the Commission on Equitable Early Childhood Education and Care Funding to study and make recommendations to establish governance and funding goals to improve more equitable access to high-quality early childhood education and care services for all children birth to age five. The Commission’s report uncovered what families and providers already know to be true: the system is too complex, inequitable, under-resourced and unstable to adequately meet the developmental needs of children, the needs of working families, and adequately and equitably compensate the ECEC workforce. To act on the commission’s recommendations, the Governor created the Early Childhood Transformation Team (ECTT) to dig deeper to help Illinois forge the best path forward to make Illinois the best state in the nation for families raising young children. The ECTT later became the Center for Early Learning Funding Equity where we help other states and localities forge their own innovative path forward to better serve young children.