2009-2010 iLLINOIS LEGISLATIVE AGENDA

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EDUCATION

Help children to prepare for success in school, the workforce and beyond

Improve early learning opportunities for young children: Expand access to preschool, boost program quality and provide developmental services to even younger, at-risk children. Increase the portion of early childhood funding set aside for at-risk children from birth to 3. A funding increase in the Early Childhood Block Grant—as envisioned in Illinois' Preschool for All plans—would be a critical step toward meeting these important goals. 

Reform schools' funding and improve quality: Ensure that our kids are ready to compete in the global economy by implementing proven strategies, including better teacher training and stronger support services. Reform school funding to provide greater adequacy and fairness, within the broader context of state revenue reforms.

HEALTH

Safeguard children's social, emotional and physical well-being

Maintain health care programs: Ensure All Kids and FamilyCare are adequately supported so that children and families receive the medical care they need to stay healthy and productive. Increasing access to preventive care ultimately drives down health care costs.

Strengthen children's mental health: Bolster the social and emotional supports critical to children's success in school and in life. We should maintain the state's current $6 million investment in the strategic plan priorities of the Illinois Children's Mental Health Partnership and grow its funding to help build a strong, statewide system of prevention, early intervention and treatment services that are lifelines for kids and parents.

Expand home-visiting programs for young, at-risk children: Help families thrive with "parent coaching." Programs such as Healthy Families Illinois and Parents Too Soon provide new parents of at-risk infants and toddlers with help to foster their children's optimum growth. But these efforts do not reach all the families who want and need services. An increase of at least $8.2 million could significantly expand the programs' reach to more communities in need.

Address perinatal depression: Build a strong statewide system to help mothers and their families respond to perinatal depression. One in eight new moms in Illinois is at risk of developing depression sometime during or after pregnancy. It is important to invest in program infrastructure to reduce potentially long-lasting, negative effects on their babies' social and emotional health and development.

FAMILY ECONOMIC SECURITY

Help parents meet children's most basic needs

Improve the Earned Income Tax Credit: Empower working families to make ends meet by growing the state EITC. In many families, parents struggle just to put food on the table and a keep roof over their heads. Doubling the EITC—which now represents a maximum of only $241 per family—would offer tangible relief by allowing low-wage workers to keep more of their own money at tax time. This also would provide communities with vital economic stimulus, as families spend that money at local stores and other businesses.

Strengthen child care access for working families: Improve access to child care so that children have quality early learning opportunities and working parents have the increased job security that comes with reliable child care. In this tight labor market, parents without affordable, stable child care risk losing their jobs. We must make child care more affordable by reducing parent co-payment fees.

CAPITAL

Fix bricks-and-mortar problems in our classrooms and on our roads

Meet long-overdue infrastructure needs: A comprehensive capital program would create jobs while funding construction of new roads, bridges and schools as well as repair old and unsafe ones. We must boost public transportation and reduce traffic congestion so that parents can spend less time stuck in traffic and more time with their families. Easing classroom overcrowding would help students to focus more on learning.

STATE FISCAL REFORM

Maintain vital services for kids and families, and do it fairly

Improve the state revenue system: Raise adequate, reliable revenue fairly through fiscal reforms. The shortcomings of Illinois' revenue system have been laid bare during recent fiscal years, and families are suffering the consequences of budget cuts and bill backlogs. Illinois urgently needs meaningful, long-lasting reforms that raise sufficient funding and relieve the disproportionate tax pressures on low-income families. Voices proposes a progressive approach to this issue that modestly increases the income tax and incorporates three fairness measures: grow the Earned Income Tax Credit for low-income, working families; create a state-level Child Tax Credit to help families raising children; and expand the standard exemption for all families.