As Illinois transitions child care licensing to the new Department of Early Childhood, HB3439 provides practical updates to streamline and clarify the process. It will extend background check renewals by aligning with federal guidance, which involves extending the renewal period for background checks from every 3 years to every 5 years. This change will reduce the administrative burden while maintaining safety standards. The bill also codifies existing DCFS guidance to allow provisional hiring of child care staff who have completed FBI or ISP fingerprint background checks, provided they are supervised by fully cleared staff.
HB3327 requires NICU staff to share existing material with information about the EI program to all families and requires hospital staff to initiate a written referral to the EI program for families whose children are currently eligible for the program.
SB1555 requires the Illinois State Board of Education to add the Secretary of the Department of Early Childhood to the Advisory Council on the Education of Children with Disabilities.
SB406 requires the Department of Early Childhood to establish an Early Childhood Integrated Data System (ECIDS) that will be used to make equity driven, inclusive, and data-informed decisions within the early childhood system.
SB2437 is a Medicaid omnibus, which includes language that requires hospitals and birthing centers to allow patients to have Medicaid-approved doulas present during all phases of labor and birth. The doula will not count toward the number of guests permitted to a patient.
HB3446 requires the Department of Early Childhood, in collaboration with ICCB, IBHE, and DCFS, to publish and update, at least annually, a comprehensive list of early childhood coursework needed to become a qualified early childhood teacher or director.
HR137 encourages the Department of Early Childhood (IDEC) to make capital concerns a priority, and regularly survey all ECE construction/renovation needs (including community-based programs). It also urges IDEC to distribute the available $40 million remaining in ECCG funding.
An administrative rule change allows child care centers to hire interim conditional teachers who are actively working toward meeting the educational requirements outlined in administrative rules. This provision includes several safeguards and will be implemented through the JCAR (Joint Committee on Administrative Rules) process rather than through legislation.
Advocates also engaged with policy makers on a harmful bill that has been introduced several times in the past. The proposal aims to lower teacher qualification requirements for center-based early childhood programs—previous versions did not require any early childhood education coursework. Advocates strongly believe that such coursework is essential for ensuring high-quality teaching and for further professionalizing the early childhood education (ECE) field. They collaborated with the bill’s lead sponsor and state agencies to amend the proposal. The revised version creates an interim conditional teacher role, allowing assistant teachers to serve as lead teachers if they are actively completing their ECE coursework or credentials within 15 months. This approach helps address the teacher shortage while maintaining the requirements needed to have high-quality educators.
