2008 Policy Agenda

To maintain progress toward ensuring access to high-quality preschool for all children whose parents want it, we should "Preschool for All" a permanent policy goal by removing the program's 2008 "sunset date," while continuing to retain services for at-risk youngsters as our first priority (HB4705).
A $68 million increase would allow more 3- and 4-year-olds to benefit in FY2009, boost program quality and extend more developmental services to even younger, at-risk children—another substantial step toward our Preschool for All goal.
We should plan to further increase, over time, that portion of early childhood funding that's set aside to help at-risk infants and toddlers (HB5038).

Bolster school construction and repairs: Crumbling, overcrowded facilities hinder children's learning throughout Illinois. A substantial capital program is long overdue, with a special focus on meeting our growing preschool and full-day kindergarten needs.

Reform school funding and improve school quality: Students need the best education possible. Too often, they can't find it in Illinois. We must redouble efforts to improve the quality of children's learning through innovative, research-proven strategies ranging from better teacher training to strong support services that extend beyond the classroom. And we must reform the way we fund schools for better adequacy and fairness. This work should take place in the broader context of state revenue reforms (SB2288, see below).

Health – Safeguard children's social, emotional and physical well-being

Strengthen children's mental health: When youngsters struggle with social and emotional difficulties, every aspect of their lives can suffer. Yet only one out of five young people who need mental-health assistance ever receives it. We must continue our efforts to reverse that sad statistic. We should maintain the $6 million that state leaders wisely invested in priorities of the Illinois Children's Mental Health Partnership last year—a balanced mix of school-based and community-based services for kids of all ages. And, in FY2009, we should add $14 million more to building a strong statewide system of prevention, early intervention and treatment for kids' social and emotional well-being.

Expand home-visiting programs for young, at-risk children: The Healthy Families Illinois and Parents Too Soon programs provide new parents of at-risk infants and toddlers with "coaching" to help foster their children's optimum growth. But these and similar efforts are too limited to reach all the families who want and need services. A $10 million increase could significantly expand the programs' reach to more communities in need (HB5570/SB2235).

Ensure affordable health care: Children's health, economic security and well-being hinges in many ways on that of their parents and other adults in their lives. Thus, it is important that we make health insurance more accessible and affordable for all families.

Increase support for abused and neglected children: Every year, Court-Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteers help safeguard more than 4,000 abused and/or neglected children statewide. Yet actual needs are about seven times greater. Illinois is one of only five states that don't help fund their CASA programs, leaving them entirely reliant on a patchwork of other resources. We should devote at least $5 million of state funding to the improvement and expansion of this vial program to serve more of our most vulnerable children (SB1753/HB1039).

Family Economic Security – Help parents to meet their children's most basic needs

Improve the Illinois Earned Income Tax Credit. Too many parents struggle to put food on the table for their children, clothes on their backs and a roof over their heads. The Illinois EITC helps by allowing low-wage workers to keep more of their money at tax time. It also relieves some of the unfairly large share of state and local taxes borne by low-income families. But our maximum EITC of $235 per family is far too small, and compares with top credits of more than $2,000 in other states. We should double or even quadruple its size over time, starting with a $43.5 million increase in this year(SB12).

Stabilize child care access for working families. State-supported child care is more than an important work-time support for employed parents; it's also an integral part of early education for many low-income youngsters. But to help maintain access to high-quality services, we must reduce the co-payment fees that often run too high for struggling families and continue to improve the low reimbursement rates paid to child care providers (HB5297/SB898).

State fiscal reform – Ensure that Illinois can maintain vital services for kids and families

Improve adequacy, fairness and stability of the state revenue system. A wide range of state services depend on a solid base of revenues—from schools and roads to prevention programs and health and human services. None is truly secure as long as our current tax structure remains unable to keep up even with the basic costs of inflation and population growth. It's time we set aside one-time "fixes" and restructure our revenue system to reflect our current economy, raise the proper amount of funding and relieve the disproportionate tax pressures on low-income families (SB2288).