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Critical Need for Investment in Illinois’ Child Care System

As part of our series on Governor Pritzker’s Smart Start Illinois initiative, Policy Manager Mercedes Mondragón celebrates the initiative and dives into the need for more investments in child care beyond Smart Start.

Mercedes Mondragón May 3, 2023
  • Policy and Systems
  • Blog

In early February, Governor Pritzker announced Smart Start Illinois, his administration’s proposal to make the largest investments in early care and education that the field has seen in a generation. The proposal includes $100 million in funding to build new and expand current child care facilities, an additional $50 million for the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP), and $130 million to enhance wages for the workforce through child care contracts.

Although Start Early is grateful for the Governor’s renewed attention to child care to begin his second term – we simply cannot stop at Smart Start’s investments because in the long-term, this funding is not sufficient to create a robust child care system that works for all children and families in Illinois. Far too many families across the state cannot access child care, much less high-quality care, due to its exorbitant cost and the lack of available classroom slots. According to Start Early’s Infant & Toddler Child Care Roadmap report, licensed child care centers have the capacity to care for only 17.4% of the state’s infants and toddlers.

The earliest years in a child’s life are the most critical years for brain development, yet infant/toddler child care is by far the most difficult type of care to secure in Illinois. It is the most expensive form of care due to low teacher-child ratios (1:4) and it’s often not seen as desirable work because of its physical nature and very low pay. In fact, infant/toddler teachers throughout the state are typically paid less than their peers. Teachers who care for our youngest learners deserve better and unless we raise teacher salaries, we will not have the workforce to increase child care slots.

Child care in Illinois is on shaky ground and without substantial long-term investments for the sector, young children and their caregivers will not be given the opportunity to thrive. We need greater dedicated funding to expand child care slots in every region of the state and to provide early educators with higher wages that allow them to not only live comfortably, but flourish in their communities.

The proposed funding within Smart Start must only be the beginning for our state’s early care and education system. Yet the Illinois General Assembly will not approve these initial budget investments without pressure from advocates like you. Now is the time for greater advocacy from all of us because babies can’t wait.


This blog post is the second in a series outlining the Early Childhood components of Governor Pritzker’s Smart Start Illinois initiative, a proposed multi-year investment in our state’s Early Intervention, Child Care, Home Visiting, and Pre-K systems.

About the Author

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Mercedes Mondragón

Policy Manager, Illinois Policy

Mercedes Mondragón is a Policy Manager on the Illinois Policy team at Start Early, where she focuses on advocating for improvements to the child care system and alleviating issues faced by the early childhood workforce.

More About Mercedes

More From This Series

This blog series outlines the Early Childhood components of Governor Pritzker’s Smart Start Illinois initiative, a proposed multi-year investment in our state’s Early Intervention, Child Care, Home Visiting, and Pre-K systems.