Progress Illinois

Human service providers and their allies agitated again for an income tax hike today, this time taking their demands to the front door of Chicago's Thompson Center. With the new budget year just two weeks away, the public interest groups have made it clear that they aren't going to sit idly by and hope that members of the General Assembly put people before their own political interests and approve a new revenue source at the last minute. To their credit, a steady stream of rallies has been going on for nearly a month now. But today, their plea for a budget that protects education and human services hit a crescendo as demonstrators from all walks of life spilled off the plaza and into the street, shutting down a stretch of Clark Street in the heart of the Loop.

The list of human service programs that are in jeopardy is long and growing. Among the most distressing are some severe cuts to early childhood education and day care subsidies, which child welfare advocates pointed out this afternoon. As we've noted before, not only will the cuts cost the state millions in lost federal matching money, but the Ounce of Prevention Fund's Diana Rauner says implementing them now "will decimate ... the infrastructure our state has spent the past 25 years building into a national model for early education."

On an urgent note, exactly how the 139,887 low-income families who rely on the state-backed child care will be able to leave their homes to provide for their families if that funding gets pulled remains a big unknown. (Daycare providers tell us that they began putting parents on notice of the looming cuts last week). What's certain, though, is that the shortages will create a ripple effect throughout the entire state economy. Rauner explains why in a press release:

“By cutting early childhood programs, we’re effectively pulling the rug out from under the working poor. Working parents won’t be able to afford high-quality child care. Their children won’t be prepared for kindergarten and will be less likely to graduate high school. This budget helps perpetuate the cycle of poverty and the state will pay for this for years to come.” [...]

In addition to lost services, the cuts in programs mean a tremendous loss of jobs. Early childhood programs represent a vital industry employing about 56,000 people and contributing more than $2 billion to the state’s economy. Funding cuts will result in lost jobs for both program staff and the parents who depend on these programs so they can work.

For more on this "domino effect" check out the Heartland Alliance's Doug Schenkelberg's latest blog post here.