Early Childhood Education

After working to acquire schools in Missouri for the last 3½ years, Inspire Schools officially rebranded seven early childcare schools in St. Charles County and one in Troy in August, bringing a new early childhood curriculum with it.

The Trump administration proposed funding cuts for the early childhood education program earlier this year but later walked back the plan.

The 46,000-square-foot facility will be an expansion of the Collinsville Area Vocational Center, which was opened in 1971 and currently provides students from 10 area high schools with dual-credit career training and skill development.

Illinois' newly-made Department of Early Childhood will administer several programs such as preschool funding, subsidized daycare services and home visits that are currently spread out among three different agencies.

Illinois' Department of Early Childhood will administer programs currently spread across 3 agencies — the State Board of Education, Department of Human Services and the Department of Children and Family Services.

The PNC Foundation, through a partnership with the Missouri Botanical Garden, is granting the Julia Goldstein Early Childhood Education Center in University City $75,000.

The new Metro East facility will serve lower-income families near O’Fallon, Shiloh, Lebanon and east Belleville. Center directors said they observed a need for such a facility as St. Clair County residents moved east.

As more daycare operators leave the field for better-paying jobs, families have fewer child care options, says the union that represents 15,000 providers in Illinois.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said the state plan to eliminate preschool deserts had a successful first year and celebrated East Alton-based Wieland Manufacturing's $500 million investment to modernize its facility.

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program is now statewide in Missouri. The program provides children with a free book in the mail each month until their fifth birthday. The goal is to nurture a love of reading and improve literacy.