Eye On Illinois: Spending increase proponents should prepare return on investment data

Sometimes making the case for spending $60 million requires explaining the cost of doing nothing.

Capitol News Illinois Friday reported on Raising Illinois, a coalition that staged nine rallies around the state in recent weeks advocating for the next operating budget to include an additional $60 million for early childhood intervention services.

According to the group, 3,500 children age 3 and younger are eligible but waiting for things like speech, physical and occupational therapy. Unsaid in the CNI report, but well understood among most parents and teachers, is that addressing developmental delays and disabilities in the infant and toddler stage can be a deciding factor in how well a child manages the first years of elementary school.

The less optimistic framing is to observe young adults graduating – or just leaving – high school and wonder how certain paths might’ve been smoother with different strategies deployed at foundational stages.

In fiscal 2024 the state spent $156 million on early intervention. In the current fiscal year, the allocation is $162 million. That means Raising Illinois is asking to increase the spending by 37% at a time when revenue projections suggest the need to solve a $3 billion gap when drafting the fiscal 2026 budget next spring.

Successfully arguing to spend an extra $60 million seems to necessarily include showing how much more K-12 spending would need to increase if all the kids on the waiting list don’t start getting help until kindergarten.

The most recent Educator Shortage Study from the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools indicates 6% of special education positions are vacant statewide – about 1,361 jobs – and that doesn’t count breakouts for bilingual special ed, speech and language pathologists or paraprofessionals and other support positions.

Raising Illinois noted the shrinking pool of early intervention workers outside school employment, saying about 500 people have left annually since 2019. The group attributes that attrition to the fact the jobs are independently contracted: no medical coverage, no transportation reimbursement for home visits, and no money when an appointment is canceled or skipped.

“Most of the people in my field are women who are married, who have access to benefits and health insurance through spouses. That is the only way they can remain in the field,” said Sarah Ziemba, a Peoria speech pathologist and Early Intervention Grassroots Alliance leader. “If the state can’t make decisive action to keep those providers and build up the early intervention program this fiscal year [2026], then that exodus of providers will be even more stark a year from now.”

Frame this request as an investment, both in the workforce and in reducing future costs, and it might be a winner. But it’s still $60 million, which won’t appear from nowhere.

• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Local News Network. Follow him on X @sth749. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.