As the year comes to a close, it feels right to reflect on an extraordinary year for education in our state. In 2023, Illinois invested powerfully in its children, financially and beyond – a testament to what can be accomplished when we have clear plans, when we work collaboratively, when families and educators advocate, and when elected officials exercise political will and leadership.  

I will resist the impulse to do a laundry list, but here are a “few” highlights that I am carrying with me into the New Year:  

In 2023, the General Assembly passed the FY24 budget putting $1.1 billion new dollars into education, from birth through higher education – an investment that reflects the priority this work deserves amidst the ongoing, deep, and uneven impact the pandemic continues to have on learners of all ages. Governor Pritzker’s Smart Start Illinois comes with the ambitious goal of closing early childhood deserts and reaching another 20,000 children during the course of his administration. Historic investments in need-based MAP scholarships and institutional funding mean that virtually every eligible MAP applicant will receive a grant – a grant that should cover 100% of community college costs and a growing share of four-year costs.  And an increase to the Minority Teachers of Illinois scholarship means the state has more than tripled the number of candidates it can serve, to over 1,000 a year. 

On the legislative front, the General Assembly took some important steps to expand access, increase transparency, support equity and inclusion, and leverage evidence-based practices in classrooms and programs. Specifically: 

• By SY27-28, every school district will offer families the option of sending their children to full-day kindergarten;  

• A statewide Literacy Plan, coupled with other resources and supports, will increase access to evidence-based, culturally inclusive core reading instruction; 

• Changes to Illinois’ Articulation Initiative will improve Illinois college students’ ability to transfer credits across schools; and 

• Having formally adopted key recommendations from the Whole Child Task Force, the state will develop a Childhood Adversity Index, publicly report student support staffing levels, and design appropriate training and development – steps that put Illinois on a path to more holistically and systemically supporting student (and teacher) well-being.

And early childhood deserves a special shout-out. First, Governor Pritzker announced Smart Start, designed to expand and deepen investments in early learning and care systems in the state by expanding preschool, childcare, early intervention, and home visiting, while also working to address issues around workforce, compensation, and capital improvements.  This fall, the Governor formally announced plans to combine early childhood programming (currently administered across multiple agencies) into a new stand-alone early childhood agency—a much-needed development for Illinois providers and families, and one that delivers on goals set forth by the Governor’s Commission on Equitable Early Childhood and Care Funding. We’d be excited about this even if the Governor hadn’t had the good sense to hire our own Ann Whalen to lead the transition, and we look forward to collaborating closely with partners, community-based organizations, agency leaders, families, and providers to ensure this critical next step is data-informed and puts families and equity at the center. And if that isn’t enough, 2023 was an important year for growing the pipeline for early childhood educators.  Using federal funds, ECACE (the Early Childhood Access Consortium for Equity) has now supported over 4,000 candidates take advantage of scholarships and mentoring to pursue early childhood teaching credentials.  What an extraordinary amount of progress! 

Closer to home, I am proud of a few organizational accomplishments.  First, Advance Illinois released its State of the Educator Pipeline 2023 report and data dashboard – the first time we’ve taken such a comprehensive and in-depth look at the complex and interconnected array of programs, issues and data points that paint a more complete picture of how well Illinois is doing at recruiting, preparing, placing, and keeping teachers and administrators around the state and in high-need areas. It was a timely report with many important take-aways, including the fact that while our state has the largest educator workforce it has had in a decade, shortages remain, and they disproportionately impact students of color, from low-income households, English learners, and students with IEPs. We applaud current and ongoing state efforts to grow and diversify the pipeline, and will continue to pay close attention to need, progress and opportunities going forward.   

Finally, it was a special joy to celebrate our 15th anniversary with so many longstanding partners! One of the many things we’ve learned is that nothing important is accomplished without collective input and effort. Thank you for your partnership over the years and across a wide range of issues that support higher quality and more equitable opportunities and outcomes for children from birth to career.  

From all accounts, we are heading into a lean budget year, and facing growing politicization of our schools at the local level. Given that, we will have to work smarter and harder to make the most of scarce resources, and to ensure we create a policy environment that supports, enriches and challenges the next generation.  

As we look ahead to 2024, there is room for still more powerful progress, even as there continue to be real and serious challenges. This spring, the General Assembly will vote on the contours of a new early childhood agency; the Commission on Equitable Public University Funding will release long-awaited recommendations for a more adequate, equitable and sustainable method of funding our public universities; and as federal relief funds disappear, the state will make hard decisions about how to maintain programs for student well-being and programs to grow our educator pipeline. But we have proven that we can and will rise to such challenges, and that we can and have made investments and policy decisions that are improving opportunities for all of our children. Let us continue.  

Here’s to ongoing partnership in the year ahead!  

Sincerely,  

Robin Steans