Full Text of SR0466 101st General Assembly
SR0466 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | SENATE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, Illinois' early childhood education workforce | 3 | | faces a teacher recruitment and retention crisis; and
| 4 | | WHEREAS, Early childhood education in Illinois is an | 5 | | economic engine, generating $2.6 billion in revenues annually; | 6 | | and
| 7 | | WHEREAS, Illinois is home to just under one million | 8 | | children between the ages of birth and five; and
| 9 | | WHEREAS, 40 percent of Illinois children live in low-income | 10 | | families; and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, Young children thrive when they have secure, | 12 | | positive relationships with adults who are knowledgeable about | 13 | | how to support their development and learning and are | 14 | | responsive to their individual progress; and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, The early childhood professionals entrusted with | 16 | | the care and education of young children bear a great | 17 | | responsibility; and
| 18 | | WHEREAS, To train, retain, and recruit highly-effective | 19 | | early childhood practitioners, we must be responsive to the |
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| 1 | | needs of current and aspiring workforce members; and
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The 2017 Illinois Early Childhood Workforce | 3 | | Hiring Survey Report found that 47 percent of the programs have | 4 | | four or fewer classrooms, while nearly 20 percent have just | 5 | | one; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, The 2017 report found that turnover rates for lead | 7 | | teachers in licensed child care centers were twice as high, 42 | 8 | | percent, as turnover rates in school-based programs, 21 | 9 | | percent; and
| 10 | | WHEREAS, The 2017 report found that 73 percent of | 11 | | administrators reported being diverted from their duties to | 12 | | fill vacant teacher positions; and
| 13 | | WHEREAS, The 2017 report found that 66 percent of programs | 14 | | reported teacher burnout due to inadequate staff; and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, The 2017 report found that, on average, it takes | 16 | | nearly a quarter of a year to fill a lead infant-toddler | 17 | | teacher position, a hiring gap that leaves many of the State's | 18 | | youngest children without qualified teachers for months at a | 19 | | time; and
| 20 | | WHEREAS, The 2017 report found that inadequate salary and |
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| 1 | | benefits were the most frequently cited barriers to hiring and | 2 | | retaining qualified staff; and
| 3 | | WHEREAS, The National Survey of Early Care and Education | 4 | | finds that 46 percent of child care workers in Illinois earn | 5 | | salaries that qualify them for some public health benefits at a | 6 | | cost of $71.4 million to the State; and
| 7 | | WHEREAS, The 2017 Illinois Network of Child Care Resource | 8 | | and Referral Agencies report found that 98.1 percent of head | 9 | | teachers are female; and
| 10 | | WHEREAS, The State of Illinois' obsolete, restrictive | 11 | | rules governing early childhood educator hiring qualifications | 12 | | discriminate against educators with classroom experience, | 13 | | further exacerbating the early childhood education workforce | 14 | | crisis; and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, Early childhood education providers are | 16 | | underrepresented on the Illinois Learning Council, the DCFS | 17 | | Advisory Council, the DHS Childcare Advisory Council, and the | 18 | | Professional Development Advisory Council; and
| 19 | | WHEREAS, The quality in early childhood education lies | 20 | | squarely in the interactions that transpire between teachers | 21 | | and children; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Governor JB Pritzker has made early childhood | 2 | | education a centerpiece of his agenda; therefore, be it
| 3 | | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL | 4 | | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we recognize that the | 5 | | State's early childhood education workforce is in a state of | 6 | | crisis; and be it further
| 7 | | RESOLVED, That we urge the General Assembly to take action | 8 | | to modernize its early childhood education funding and teacher | 9 | | qualification standards to address the early childhood | 10 | | workforce crisis; and be it further
| 11 | | RESOLVED, That we urge the Governor of Illinois to increase | 12 | | early childhood education provider representation on the | 13 | | Illinois Learning Council, the DCFS Daycare Advisory Council, | 14 | | the DHS Childcare Advisory Council, and the Professional | 15 | | Development Advisory Council to assure provider voices are | 16 | | heard as early childhood education policy is developed and | 17 | | implemented; and be it further
| 18 | | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 19 | | presented to the Governor of Illinois, the Speaker of the | 20 | | Illinois House of Representatives, the Minority Leader of the | 21 | | Illinois House of Representatives, the President of the |
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| 1 | | Illinois Senate, and the Minority Leader of the Illinois | 2 | | Senate.
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