Brian Matakis, Project Director for Voices For Illinois Children 

Presently, the Early Childhood Education Block Grant supports effective early childhood education programs for children from birth to five and their families. The largest block grant initiative is the pre-kindergarten program. In the 1999-2000 school year, the state pre- kindergarten program served nearly 47,000 children and the federal Head Start program served about 37,000 kids-that's 14.7 percent of all 3 to 5-year-olds in Illinois. Yet statewide, districts report that 7,000 eligible children are currently on pre-k waiting lists. The current pre-k program only serves at-risk 3 to 5-year-olds for less than four hours a day. And since the block grant is an annual appropriation item, it can be difficult for localities to conduct strategic planning around human, programmatic and infrastructure resources to maximize the overall quality and enrollment of pre-k and other early childhood initiatives. In spite of undisputed empirical evidence that pre-school/pre-kindergarten is a decisive ingredient to help children develop socially, emotionally and cognitively so they reach kindergarten ready to learn and thrive, many children both "at-risk" and other-wise are being left out and left behind. Parents with the financial means must enter the marketplace and fund their child's early childhood education. Other parents whose children may not be eligible for pre-kindergarten are simply unable to afford this private financing so their children go without any early childhood education. 

Voices for Illinois Children encourages EFAB to recommend that Illinois go where no state has gone before by making a voluntary and flexible universal pre-kindergarten program part of the state funding formula. This goal can be accomplished by capitalizing on the successes of the current Head Start and pre-kindergarten programs, and by making early childhood education available to all children whose parents choose to have them participate. Here are a few components that should receive consideration:

• Enrollment: All children, regardless of economic circumstances, should be able to participate in developmentally appropriate birth to five pre-school/pre-kindergarten programs. 
• Diverse choices: Parents should be given choices regarding their child's pre-kindergarten education, including several school settings and curricula from which to choose. Parents should also be able to choose between "part-day" services and options that operate during, the full business day over the full calendar year. 
• Diverse provider base: A variety of organizations must be able to provide pre- kindergarten services-public/private elementary schools, public/private secondary schools, post-secondary vocational technical institutes, private and state colleges, private non-profit and for-profit child care learning centers, Head Start sites, hospitals, military bases, and YMCA/YWCA's. The public/private partnership would enable parents to choose the most appropriate classroom setting for their child. 
• Residual benefits: Because much of the funding could be directed to private providers, quality in the child care industry would improve. And since funding should provide for equipment and materials for pre-kindergarten classrooms as well as salaries for certified teachers, much of the emphasis on quality early childhood education would affect all birth to five initiatives. 
• Parental involvement: Parents should be encouraged to volunteer in the pre- kindergarten classroom and to participate in meetings, parent group activities, or workshops offered by providers. 
• Local Coordinating Councils: To assist in strengthening public/private partnerships, communities should have the option to establish local coordinating councils. Local coordinating councils should include parents, representatives from public and private providers, health officials, educators, and representatives from business communities. The purpose of the councils would be to facilitate the sharing of resources and information. Activities of local coordinating councils could include providing forums for sharing instructional services, updating lists of community resources, providing forums to discuss ideas and common problems, etc. 
• Performance-based public policy: By some estimates, every dollar invested in early childhood education saves $7 in later costs to society. Nearly two decades of brain research confirms that learning begins at birth and children need developmentally appropriate education before kindergarten to succeed in kindergarten and beyond. 

So why make pre-k part of the state education funding formula rather than ramp up the existing block grant? Here are a few reasons:

• Contrary to many initial and ingrained reactions, education does not merely mean K-12. Making pre-k universal and part of the funding formula expands the number of stakeholders and essentially raises the profile of pre-k as a permanent component of public education-an expected community fixture. 
• Universal pre-k supported by the formula raises the opportunity to streamline administration and stabilize the provider base. The existing block grant is comparably clumsy because of annual grant renewals and appropriation battles. The funding formula would compensate districts with a pre-k infrastructure and enable localities to engage in comprehensive planning. 
• A formula that includes pre-k builds a framework to positively improve the programmatic quality, salary structure and career track of the early care and education field, and much more directly recognizes the needs of today's parents by furnishing full business day/full year options that fuse early care and education into a unified, developmentally appropriate system. 
• Just because no other state has made pre-k part of their funding formula is not itself a worthwhile reason to accept the current block grant structure. Illinois can move forward with innovation, and this is an idea whose time has come, particularly if we aspire to have all children meet and exceed the State Board of Education's Illinois Learning Standards.