Margie Wallen, representing "The Ounce of Prevention Fund".

Good afternoon. I'm Margie Wallen, a Senior Policy Analyst with the Kids Public Education and Policy Project, a joint project of the Ounce of Prevention Fund and Family Focus. More than a decade ago, we worked in close partnership with the State Board to develop its two early education programs serving families with children birth to age three, as well as the PreKindergartenprogramserving3-to-5year-olds. Thank you for the opportunity to comment on education funding priorities for Illinois.

The Illinois State Board of Education, the Governor's Office, and the General Assembly have had a long-standing commitment to providing high quality early childhood education to our state's youngest residents.

A substantial body of research documents the fact that high quality, intensive early childhood programs promote healthy intellectual, social, and emotional development in young children, with positive effects persisting well into a child's adult years, Many longitudinal studies of the impact of these programs confirm that they reduce referrals to special education, reduce dropout rates, and improve children's learning during the early elementary grades for far less than it costs to provide specialized services later.

At a time when the years from birth-to-five are making headlines, Illinois' investments in early childhood education have moved us forward in bringing practice in line with our growing knowledge of how a cud's brain grows and how early experiences affect a child's future success in school.

However, much remains to be done. Too many Illinois children still do not have access to the kinds of good-quality education and care that provide the stimulation and responsive relationships with adults that they need to enter school ready to learn and flourish.

• A report released this month by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and a number of government and philanthropic groups found that nationally 46% of Kindergarten teachers say that half of the children entering Kindergarten have a behavioral or learning problem.
• No more than one in six 3-5 year-olds of all  income levels attends a child care center that can be considered "high quality."  This number is even lower for babies and toddlers.
• Although research reveals that quality early education programs benefit low-income children the most, communities with the highest concentrations of low-income people, have significantly fewer licensed early care and education slots per 1,000 children than communities with low concentrations of low-income individuals.
• Statewide, school districts report that 7,000 eligible children are currently on waiting lists for Prekindergarten programs. And, in Chicago, there are 7,000 children waiting to be screened for eligibility.
• Fewer than 8% of state Prekindergarten spaces offer full-workday, full-year services; 92% operate offer 2.5 - 3 hour a day services during the school year only.
• And yet, regardless of their work status, the majority of parents desire quality early childhood education opportunities for their children.

At present, although 35% of Illinois children under age 18 are younger than six, about 3% of ISBE's FY2001 budget is spent on early childhood education. Clearly, in the coming years, substantially greater investments in early education are required to support school readiness programs that assist parents to bolster their parenting skills and to most effectively meet the developmental needs of their babies and toddlers. Sufficient funds are also needed to support at least two years of high quality PreKindergarten services for every three- and four-year old whose parents want it, with priority given to low-income children.

We are very interested in looking at different methods of distributing early childhood education funds, particularly PreK program funding. The manner in which a state distributes funds helps determine which children are served in which communities, and within those communities, in which programs.

Regardless of the specific form it takes, an effective early education funding system has the following characteristics:

• It enables a diverse array of providers - including public schools, child care providers, and Head Start programs - to fully participate so that communities can take advantage of their existing early childhood resources and services can be more effectively coordinated. Since all children, wherever they are being cared for, need access to high quality early learning opportunities before they enter Kindergarten, allowing a diverse array of providers to receive early education funds directly gives communities greater flexibility to offer the types of PreK programs that are most responsive to the diverse needs of parents and children.
• An effective early education funding system allows funding to be made available to as many communities as possible so that children have access to PreK no matter where they live. Short of reaching this goal, communities with the largest populations of children at risk of school failure should be given priority for funding.
• It helps ensure that the programs funded by the state are of the highest quality.
• It offers programs a reliable source of funding from year to year, provided they continue to meet the expectations for quality programming.
• It provides enough flexibility for programs to respond to increases in the size of the PreK-eligible population and the number of families who want their children to participate, and to keep pace with the rising costs associated with maintaining a high level of quality.

In trying to accomplish these goals, states use various methods for distributing PreK funds.

Twenty-seven states use a Non-Competitive Approach where the state predetermines, through legislation or regulation, which communities or programs will be allowed to receive funds. In this approach, states predetermine which districts or programs are eligible for funds and the amount, or they use a formula for calculating the amount. The level of funding is generally based on the number of children participating in combination with other factors.

Twenty-five states, including Illinois, use a Competitive Approach where the state requires school districts or other providers to submit applications for funding and then evaluates the proposals to determine which will be awarded grants.  In Illinois, only school districts can apply for PreK funds.

In addition, four states use a Combined Approach where a portion of the state funds is distributed through non-competitive means and a portion is distributed through a competitive approach.

Any of these three funding approaches can accomplish the goals I just laid out, provided the methodology is carefully designed and the consequences anticipated.

In addition, by simply increasing the amount of funding to meet the rising need for early education, states can renew funding for existing programs so that they have stable funding from year to year, while making resources available to programs and communities that do not yet have these resources. And, by offering technical assistance and other supports, the state can help communities that need more quality programs but lack the capacity to offer them.

We would look forward to working with the State Board of Education, the Governor's Office, and members of the General Assembly, the Education Funding Advisory Board, and the early education and care community to ensure that early childhood educational resources are distributed as efficiently and effectively as possible. This effort would include analyzing our current method of distributing funds through the Early Childhood Education Block Grant, as well as considering combinations of competitive and non-competitive approaches to insure that we are using the most effective policies and methods of distributing early childhood education funds to best prepare our youngest children to succeed in school.

Thank you.