Report: Illinois stalls in efforts to expand preschool compared to other states

A new report from the National Institute for Early Education Research found Illinois’ rate of growth in enrollment and funding for universal preschool is slowing, despite state efforts to expand preschool programming.

While the report noted Gov. JB Pritzker’s Smart Start initiative increased access in recent years, flat funding for the current year has stalled progress in the state.

Pritzker introduced Smart Start Illinois in 2023, a program that aims to expand high-quality, publicly funded preschool programs to low-income children. In January 2025, Pritzker announced the addition of over 5,000 seats to the program, for a total of 11,000 since it began.

Per the report, the state ranked fourth in 3-year-old enrollment in the 2024-25 school year. However, it ranked 22^nd in state funding and 20^th for 4-year-old enrollment out of all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Over the past five years, 3-year-old enrollment in Illinois slowly increased to 26%, although it remains lower than enrollment for 4-year-olds, which plateaued at 35%. Most state-funded preschool programs primarily serve 4-year-olds, with nationwide enrollment reaching 37% for 4-year-olds but only 9% for 3-year-olds.

“Illinois rises to the top of 3-year-olds because most states aren’t doing anything, and Illinois serves similar percentages of 3- and 4-year-olds,” said the report’s authors, Steve Barnett and Allison Friedman-Krauss. Illinois has a two-year preschool program that targets both ages.

Read more from the Associated Press: More kids than ever are attending state-funded preschool, with California’s surge leading the way

During the 2024-25 school year, Illinois preschools enrolled about 83,000 children in total, an increase of over 1,000 students from the previous year.

The report released Wednesday found that the state met eight of the 10 quality benchmarks the institute set for early childhood education in 2024-25. Illinois’ rating was in line with the national trend: Enrollment and funding saw record highs, but the pace of growth in those categories slowed from the previous year.

‘About setting priorities’

The governor’s Smart Start initiative includes the Early Childhood Block Grant program, which makes grants available for children in “preschool deserts”.

The report found that Illinois’ spending per child has increased to $6,641 over the past two years, reversing a decrease from 2021-2023. State spending increased 7% in total from the 2023-24 school year to the 2024-2025 year when adjusted for inflation, an increase of about 5% per child.

The General Assembly allocated an additional $75 million for Early Childhood Block Grants in fiscal year 2025 but kept funding the same for the current fiscal year ending in June. Beginning in July, in fiscal year 2027, preschool grant programs will be housed under the new Department of Early Childhood. Lawmakers are working to finalize that budget by May 31.

“It is partly about setting priorities. If you have a universal pre-K program, and you’re flat funding it, you’re never going to get there,” Barnett said. “If it’s going to happen, (legislators) may have to prioritize it over other things in their budget.”

The institute defines true universal preschool as any program that does not have barriers to entry, like parental salary or education requirements. Indiana, for example, has a state-funded program, but the institute doesn’t count it because the program requires certain salaries and education levels from the parents of the child.

There are 44 states and D.C. that have state-funded preschool programs, according to the institute. It measures those programs through 10 benchmarks in areas such as early learning and development standards; curriculum supports; teacher and assistant teacher degrees and training; professional development; class size; staff-to-student ratio; health screening and referrals; and quality improvement systems.

Illinois meets all benchmarks but those for staff professional development and assistant teacher degree requirements. Only six states met all 10.

The benchmarks can be a little “clunky,” the authors said, because it’s a yes or no question. A state might meet part of the requirement, but not all, and still miss the benchmark.

“It’s worth looking at some of these to see, is your state close?,” Barnett said, adding that improvement is often driven by advocates and reports like this one. “Legislatures have a lot of things to worry about. They don’t necessarily know this unless somebody points it out to them.”

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.