Illinois

"In a release Wednesday, the Illinois State Board of Education says the spike in low-income students and those with limited English has led to increased costs for school districts."

"Changes that were never approved nor even debated by the legislature have skewed the poverty grant formula to create huge discrepancies in the value placed on children in poverty."

"There's a surplus of funds for the kindergarten program, and administrators want more low-income students to reap the benefits of an all-day kindergarten, which led to the proposed reduction in fees for only those students."

"Illinois has just over 800 students in its eight state youth prisons. The average young inmate enters scoring between the fifth- and sixth-grade level in reading, and Gaffey said school records and the teens' own stories suggest that elementary-grade truancy is increasing across the state amid rising rates of child poverty and homelessness."

"Obama's emphasis on high quality is important. Preschool intervention programs vary in quality. But, at their best, they help children make the most of their early learning years at a time when their learning and study habits are being formed. One recent federal evaluation of Head Start, which is aimed at low-income preschoolers, found parents benefited, too, by learning to use appropriate discipline techniques and learning to spend more time reading to their children."

"According to the report, Some of the most significant achievements have involved expanding access to early childhood education, health-care coverage and affordable child care.' Other gains the report touts include substantially improving the child welfare system, establishing and strengthening the state earned income tax credit for low-income working families and adopting social and emotional learning standards for Illinois public schools."