Governor Quinn Announces Illinois Wins $80 Million Federal Investment for Early Childhood Education

CHICAGO - Governor Pat Quinn today announced that Illinois has won an $80 million federal investment in early childhood education. Illinois will receive $20 million annually for four years through the Preschool Development Grants competition, which is part of President Obama's call in 2013 to expand access to high-quality preschool to every child in America. Thirty-six states competed for a total of $250 million annually over four years to provide children from low-income households with access to early childhood education. The announcement is part of Governor Quinn's Birth to Five Initiative, which expands access to early learning opportunities.

"Providing high-quality early childhood education is a game changer for our economy," Governor Quinn said. "While Illinois currently leads the nation in the number of three-year-olds in preschool, we have much more work to do. This major investment in Illinois' littlest will have a big impact in many of our communities. Every child, no matter where they live, deserves the opportunity to succeed in life."

The federal program is designed to increase access to education for four-year-old children from families below 200 percent of the poverty level (approximately $47,700 annually for a family of four). School districts and communities partnered with states were invited to apply.

Illinois selected its partners using a number of criteria including: number of children with very high educational needs; lack of existing publicly-funded programs for preschoolers; capacity to link these new programs to a continuum of early education services; partnerships between community-based organizations and school districts; and readiness to open new classrooms by August 2015.

In his 2014 State of the State address, Governor Quinn announced his Birth to Five Initiative to make a historic $1.5 billion investment in early childhood education, including high-quality early learning opportunities, prenatal care and parent education and support services. Research has shown that the early years in a child's life - when the human brain is forming - represent a critically important window of opportunity to develop a child's full potential.

Illinois received the maximum $80 million award for the Expansion Grant to be distributed over four years. The Expansion Grants are designed for states with larger state-funded preschool programs or states that have received a Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge grant. Terms of the award allow a maximum of $20 million per year to be distributed to help build, develop and expand high-quality preschool programs for low to moderate-income families.

In the first year alone, these Preschool Development Grant awards will serve more than 33,000 additional children in high-quality preschool programs across the nation.

The school districts that received a portion of the award are:

In 2009, Governor Quinn established the Governor's Office of Early Childhood Development, which secured federal grants from Race to the Top that allowed Illinois to deliver high-quality early care and education programs. The Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge Grant has also allowed the launch of ExceleRate Illinois, a brand new quality rating and improvement system that will help ensure every early childhood program is a quality program that prepares children for success in the classroom and in life.