This article was produced for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in partnership with Illinois Capitol News. Sign up for Dispatchs to get articles like this as soon as they’re published.
Sixty percent of rural Americans live in child care deserts, areas where there are too few licensed places to raise children. In rural Illinois, that number rises to nearly 70%.
Over the past decade, the number of licensed child care centers in Illinois has decreased by 33%, with the loss of approximately 4,300 facilities and approximately 38,000 licensed child slots. This loss from years of budget cuts exceeds the decline in the child population, with rural areas being hit hardest. In 2019, his first year in office, Gov. J.B. Pritzker acknowledged that rural health care providers were closing at an “alarming rate” and vowed to make Illinois “the best state in the nation for families raising young children.” I swore.
The state has increased payments to providers in recent years, but it hasn’t been enough to reverse the damage caused by years of budget cuts. The COVID-19 pandemic has further destabilized an already fragile system. Despite additional state and federal funding, Illinois has lost about 1,300 health care providers since Pritzker took office.
But opening new facilities is difficult, and the government itself is making things even more difficult. Here are five reasons why opening and operating a new child care center in Illinois is difficult.
1. Politics delays federal relief.
Even in rural areas, where starting a small business is often considered cheaper, starting a daycare center can cost more than $1 million, experts say. While it’s true that property prices may be lower than in urban areas, it’s often more difficult to find property in areas with few new buildings and many older buildings in need of expensive repairs. .
The largest source of child care funding in the United States comes from the federal Child Care and Development Block Grant Fund, administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. But most of that money goes to offset childcare costs for low-income parents. Only a few exceptions allow federal funds to be spent on the building itself.
Federal efforts to ease these start-up costs for rural areas include proposals to expand loans and subsidies through the Department of Agriculture, which will be released as part of a long-delayed new farm bill. It remains pending in Congress.
The Casners bought and renovated a 1950s motel to open a child care center. Credit: Julia Rendleman for ProPublica
2. The country’s aid efforts did not make much progress.
The Rebuilding Illinois Plan is a $45 billion, multi-year capital improvement plan passed in 2019, the state’s first such plan in nearly a decade. Through it, the state allocated $100 million to early childhood facilities. But in the first round of funding, only eight programs received a total of $55 million out of 238 applicants in January 2023, with most grants awarded in Chicago and the suburbs. There were no funded health care providers in the southern half of the state. A second round of $45 million is planned, but no schedule has been announced.
3. Licensing delays and staff shortages
The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, which oversees child care licensing, is facing staffing shortages. The agency has a 20% vacancy rate for licensed staff and a 45% vacancy rate for supervisors, who must review and approve all applications for childcare workers.
Complying with Illinois’ complex licensing rules can be difficult, and providers say they don’t always get the information they need in a timely manner. Some say their applications have been stuck for months or even weeks with no explanation. DCFS misses its 90-day deadline for approving applications about a third of the time, and that rate can exceed 50% in areas with severe staffing shortages, according to its own report to the General Assembly. . Authorization will soon be transferred to the newly created Early Childhood Authority, but most changes will not start until mid-2026 and it is not yet clear how they will affect providers.
DCFS acknowledges staffing shortages, but also attributes delays to paperwork errors by providers and robbery by other agencies, including the state fire marshal and local officials.
OWL teacher Mary Pender pushes snow away from her awning. Credit: Julia Rendleman for ProPublica
4. Outdated and inconsistent regulations
Illinois child care regulations are intended to protect children, but they contain outdated and contradictory provisions that frustrate providers. For example, one regulation prohibits the use of blankets on sleeping infants to reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS); It is mandatory to do so. Another rule requires providers to carry coins with them on their walks in order to use payphones in emergencies, a relic of the pre-mobile phone era.
Daycare officials say the discrepancies in rules complicate the already difficult process of opening and operating a daycare center. A DCFS spokesperson told Illinois Capitol News that the agency is working on updating some regulations.
5. Low reimbursement rates for providers
Federal Child Care Development Block Grants are the nation’s largest source of child care funding and are administered by states to help eligible low-income families offset high child care costs. This money goes directly to providers, and the federal government requires states to reimburse providers at least 50% of market rates, recommending a higher standard of 75%. However, Illinois has failed to achieve both goals. As of April 2023, state-reimbursed child care market rates are less than 45%, one of the widest disparities nationwide. The funding shortfall violates federal equal access rules, but state officials said recent grant increases have brought Illinois into compliance in most categories.
Rural providers face additional hurdles beyond inadequate reimbursement rates. High start-up costs and low population densities make it difficult to fill classrooms quickly, prolonging the financial burden. Even providers who provide unsubsidized care have difficulty setting rates that reflect their actual operating costs, because many families with incomes low enough to qualify for subsidies cannot afford higher rates. I’m having a hard time.
This persistent funding shortfall has placed providers, especially rural providers, in a difficult financial situation.
‘All my future money is gone’: The impossible task of providing child care in rural Illinois
