Consolidated, 'compassionate' services pledged for new Illinois Department of Early Childhood

  • 📰 AP
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 47 sec. here
  • 12 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 57%
  • Publisher: 51%

Illinois News

J.B. Pritzker,Chicago,General News

Illinois' governor has signed a law creating a separate Department of Early Childhood that he says will make it easier on families to get needed services for the state’s youngest residents. Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the law in Chicago.

that will make it “simpler, better and fairer” for families seeking assistance and care for the state’s youngest residents.

“For years, they have navigated a system that is too often overly complex and sometimes completely disjointed,” Pritzker said at Eyes On The Future Child Development Center in Chicago. “Our state-funded early childhood programs operate across three different state agencies, putting an unnecessary burden on families looking for support and on those providing the support that is truly needed.”

With $13 million in seed money, Ann Whalen, formerly of the education advocacy group Advance Illinois, has served as the new agency’s transition director since last fall. Pritzker has prioritized early childhood education since taking office and noted that the state is about to embark on its second full year of theHis Senate sponsor for the new agency, Democratic Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford of Westchester, is no newcomer to the field. She shepherded the introduction of universal pre-school nearly 20 years ago.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 728. in LAW

Law Law Latest News, Law Law Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

City of Phoenix sends official response to Department of Justice over review of police departmentABC15 has been reporting on the DOJ's investigation into the Phoenix Police Department since 2021
Source: abc15 - 🏆 263. / 63 Read more »