Illinois child care providers hold capitol rally

Posted on February 27, 2015

Child care operators staged a rally in Springfield on Thursday to urge lawmakers to keep their funding from out next month. (WJBC file photo)

By Dave Dahl/Illinois Radio Network

SPRINGFIELD – A rally in the Captiol was designed to urge lawmakers and Gov. Bruce Rauner to find the money to pay for a child care program that cares for and educates children from low-income families so their parents can work.
 
The program's money is about to run out, part of the current fiscal year's budget problems.
 
“The fact that this is even mentioned (as something to discontinue) is a bit too much,” said Mia Allen, assistant director of six Jelly Bean Learning Centers in Chicago. “We should never have been on the chopping block.”
 
The Service Employees International Union organized the rally. Numerous state programs are in need, what with the Jan. 1 rollback of the state income tax, from five percent to 3.75 percent, and lack of a substitute for that money.

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