A special commission on early childhood education is looking into ways to improve the care and teaching of Illinois’ youngest population.
The group is slated to provide a report in the spring, but previewed a few recommendations before a Senate committee.
Commission member Shauna Ejeh says they include creating a new state agency dedicated to child care, home visit and preschool programs.
"We make it very hard for childcare providers and families to navigate the system. There are three different state agencies with three different application processes and many hoops to jump through. We need to make it easy for providers to give excellent care, not hard."
Commission members say the state needs to address low pay for early childhood educators and areas of Illinois that have zero programs for kids from birth to five.
