Pre-K enrollment in Illinois is declining and a child advocacy group puts a lot of the blame on the Illinois General Assembly.
Voices for Illinois Children released its 2013 Kids Count report Thursday at 8 locations around the state including Unity Point School in Carbondale.
The group says lawmakers must make funding pre-K a priority because enrollment has slipped 20,000 over the past four years after a decade of gains. Voices board member Ray Hancock of Marion says lawmakers are more concerned about their own political futures than the welfare of young children in Illinois. Hancock says all Illinois schools should have a strong pre-K program like the one at Unity Point. Pre-K parent educator Michelle Pritchard says programs like the one at her school are important in providing services so children are ready for kindergarten.
The 2013 Kids Count report shows child poverty, child abuse and neglect rates are all up in Jackson, Williamson and Franklin counties. At the same time, state funding for pre-K is down 11 percent in Jackson and Williamson counties and up a half-percent in Franklin County.
