Fewer Illinois youngsters are attending preschool, report says
A new report says fewer young children in Illinois are being placed in preschool.
The report from the National Institute for Early Education Research breaks down the state of preschool education in every U.S. state. The report finds the decrease in the number of children being passed in pre-K in Illinois happened despite efforts to expand preschool across the state.
While Illinois ranked fourth for 3-year-old enrollment, the state was 20th for 4-year-old enrollment.
Report authors Illinois' high ranking in 3-year-old enrollment is a result of most states not having schooling for 3-year-olds to begin with.
There is some good news in the report, however. Illinois was one of six states to meet all 10 benchmarks for early learning and development standards.
During the 2024-2025 school year, Illinois preschools enrolled 83,661 children, up 1,187 from the year before, the report said. State spending rose by 7%.
The report also noted that the Illinois General Assembly allocated an additional $75 million for the state's Early Childhood Block Grant in Fiscal Year 2025, which went toward expanded services for children from birth to 3 years old and services for an additional 512 children in center-based care.
For FY2026, the General Assembly allocated level funding to the block grant, the report said. For FY2027, the block grant will be under the new unified agency of the Illinois Department of Early Childhood.
Efforts to enroll as many Illinois youngsters in preschool as possible date back many years. The Illinois Prekindergarten Program for At-Risk Children was founded in 1985, and the Illinois Preschool for All initiative began in 2006, with the goal of pre-K for all 3- and 4-year-olds in Illinois by 2012, the report said.
The Illinois Preschool for All Expansion Program began in 2017, when the state received a federal Preschool Development Grant. Preschool for All programs now operate in almost all Illinois counties, the report said.
