Gov. Pritzker: ‘Early childhood education is the most important thing’

Posted on December 17, 2019
classroom
Gov. Pritzker has also appointed 29 people to a new “Illinois Commission on Equitable Early Childhood Education and Care Funding.” (Photo courtesy: WJBC/File)

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – Early childhood education is the most important thing, says Gov. JB Pritzker; look at the benefits!

“It reduces future expenditures and offers one of the highest returns on investment,” Pritzker said in Chicago Monday. “It yields a higher high school graduation rate, a higher college attendance rate, greater lifetime earnings, lower healthcare costs, (and) lower crime rates.”

He says more of the littlest Illinoisans are participating.

“I’ve succeeded in expanding income eligibility for the Child Care Assistance Program, which now reaches an additional 20,000 children since the prior administration’s budget crisis that stripped away our state’s social services,” he said.

The governor announced reimbursement rates to providers are rising,  especially in rural counties, and more money is going to training. He has also appointed 29 people to a new “Illinois Commission on Equitable Early Childhood Education and Care Funding.”

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]. 

Blogs

Labor Day – Expanding voting rights for all

By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year.  It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …

Is federal mobilization the answer?

By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city.   Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…

In these troubled times, to my fellow white Americans

By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…

Workers’ Memorial Day – Remember those whose job took their life

Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University.   We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk.  Going to work every day for some people means…