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Next week, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) is holding the first two of its three fall budget hearings. These hearings, which take place every year, provide the early childhood advocacy community an opportunity to help shape the state’s Fiscal Year 2024 budget proposal.


ISBE has scheduled three hearings this year:
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Tuesday, October 4th from 4-7 p.m. (virtual)
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Thursday, October 6th from 4-7 p.m. (Springfield)
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Monday, October 24th from 4-7 p.m. (virtual)Please sign up to testify, virtually or in Springfield, and request a 20% increase in state funding for the Early Childhood Block Grant (ECBG).


Here’s how you can participate in the ISBE budget hearing process:
1.
Visit
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www.isbe.net/budgetrequestform , and enter your name and contact information.
2.
Choose the hearing you’ll attend or select the option for submitting written testimony. Written testimony must be received by ISBE no later than October 26.
3.
Under the “Add Program Request” drop-down menu select “Early Childhood Education.”
4.
Enter $119,627,620.00 under the “Additional Requested Funding” section.
5.
Under the field that begins with “Please provide the Board with a description of your funding request,” you will need to put further detail on the 20% ask. For a detailed list of instructions to participate, please
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mailto:[email protected]?subject=
Contact us if you plan to testify or have questions. Consider using the following talking points in your comments, we hope you find them helpful! ​​​​​


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For the FY24 state budget, the early childhood advocacy community is asking ISBE to include in its budget proposal an increase in state general revenue funding for the Early Childhood Block Grant (ECBG) by at least 20%. This increase totals $119.6 million over the final FY24 appropriation.
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In particular, we encourage ISBE to put new resources towards some of the following quality improvement measures:
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Early childhood educators remain chronically undercompensated. A 20% increase would allow ISBE to raise salaries for existing educators working for programs operated by community-based organizations, particularly those working with infants and toddlers.
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Our youngest learners and their families benefit from a full-day of learning. The Board should expand more half-day preschool slots into full-day slots.
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With additional funds, the Board could strengthen programs’ capacity to serve priority populations with complex needs, like children with disabilities or developmental delays, English learners, and children experiencing homelessness.Thank you for speaking up for children and families across the state!



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