After a story time session with 3-, 4- and 5-year-old students at the Grayslake Early Childhood Center, local law enforcement leaders and state representatives met with educators to discuss the relationship between early childhood education and crime prevention.
Deterrence has been the primary focus of crime policy, Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said. But, it’s Rinehart’s mission for the prosecutor’s office to think more broadly about crime prevention, starting with education as the first step.
“If a crime has happened, we are at the end of the story. Something terrible has happened,” Rinehart said. “When we talk about early childhood education, we’re talking about the beginning of the story, and we’re talking about making a deep, deep investment in our children, in the mental health needs of our children, or helping children to have the skills they need to lead a fulfilled life.”
In Illinois, the early childhood education system is dire, state Rep. Laura Faver Dias, D-Grayslake, said — albeit better than some states — with not enough spots for children in education and child care centers.
In Lake County, there are 50,000 children age 6 and under, but there are only 17,000 spots in private and public early childhood education sites — leaving 33,000 kids without a spot in early education.
“That’s 33,000 children whose parents aren’t able to participate in the economy,” Dias said.
Statewide, only 30% of kindergartens enter their first year of full-time school prepared. Rinehart said it’s “disturbing” that seven out of 10 students start school already behind.
State Rep. Joyce Mason, D-Gurnee, said it’s important to have law enforcement officials at the table when talking about early education, because they see the potential outcomes of educational gaps firsthand.
“I think (law enforcement) has a very unique perspective on why the people they encounter are there,” Mason said. “So to be part of the conversation and say, ‘Yes, we know that. If you had invested in this person, if they had gotten the child care or education or mental health service that they needed, they may not have met me.'”
For every $1 spent on early childhood education, the state gets a return of $7 throughout that child’s life, Mason said. Investing in early education can help reduce the amount of resources law enforcement needs, she added.
Educators are thrilled criminal justice and law enforcement officials are thinking about early education as a method of crime prevention.
Heather Lorenzo, director of student services at Grayslake Community Consolidated School District 46, said it’s extremely exciting that not only educators are invested in early childhood education, but that law enforcement and elected officials are invested in expanding early education programming.
“We have an incredible program with a ton of services that are high quality for students,” Lorenzo said. “But to expand that opportunity to more of our community and broaden that access, funding is the crux of that accessibility. It allows us to expand in facilities space, it allows us to expand in our personnel and also provide high quality materials.”
Across the education system, Lorenzo said investments should be made in raising salaries to match the experience of educators, including in Grayslake, where Lorenzo acknowledged the district is in a better position than others to recruit and retain staff.
Investments into early childhood education are being made by the state. For fiscal year 2024, more than $300 million in the budget is dedicated for early childhood priorities — including Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s Smart Start
More Top Picks Best Knee Sleeves For Squatting
initiative.
Mason, who chairs the Childcare Accessibility and Early Childhood Education Committee, said the funds will be used to expand early childhood education spots because there is a “huge gap” between what’s available and what’s needed.
There are some regions of Lake County, like Beach Park, that are considered a child care desert, she said.
Mason said a single agency tasked with overseeing all early childhood programs, a plan supported by Pritzker, would help the work educators do, as well as streamline information for families by having it all in one place.
Currently, there are three state agencies that oversee early childhood education and care — the Department of Children and Families, Illinois State Board of Education and Department of Human Services.
“I’ve been talking to early childhood educators, and I’m being told they are spending all their time trying to figure out who’s responsible for what, trying to take the same information and put it in three different reports, And if there’s trouble, they’re like, ‘Who do we call?'” Mason said. “It’s like too many cooks.”
Regardless of the challenges, evidence shows early childhood education helps set students up for success throughout their life and the entire learning experience, according to Lorenzo, who oversees the Early Childhood Center in Grayslake.
“A program like this offers a variety of learning opportunities that appeal to both cognitive and academic learning, preparedness but also social and emotional support,” Lorenzo said. “It just really leverages their readiness to be ready in kindergarten with the academic rigor that they’re going to experience.”