Illinois education received a bump to the budget this year, but some education advocates hoped for more investment.
The state budget package, signed on June 16, totals $55.1 billion. It prioritizes “Illinois’ long-term fiscal health while sustaining key investments in economic development, education, and health and human services,” says Governor Pritzker’s administration in a press release.
Education advocacy group Advance Illinois said that state lawmakers had a difficult job to do, especially in the face of uncertain federal funding.
“We recognize and appreciate the efforts the Governor and lawmakers have made to protect public education, but hope we can and will find ways to further strengthen support for early childhood, K12 and higher education,” said Robin Steans, president of Advance Illinois, in a press release.
For many education advocates, one the most important funding changes was to the Evidence-Based Funding Formula (EBF). This year’s budget allocated an additional $307 million to the EBF, bringing the total investment to $8.94 billion.
The EBF sends more resources to students furthest from opportunity with the intent to make education more equitable. How much funding the EBF receives directly impacts those students with less resources.
Read on for how much of the Illinois budget is being invested into students, teachers and schools.
Investments into education in the Illinois budget
The Illinois budget totals $55.1 billion, and a sizable portion of that money is allocated to early education, K-12 schools and higher education. The Priztker administration provides a breakdown of the budget package:
Early education investments
- $748 million in Early Childhood Grant Block funding, which extends access to support services and high-quality preschool slots for families with children up to age 3 and has resulted in more than 11,000 new seats added in the last two years.
- $200 million investment for nation-leading Early Childhood Workforce Compensation Contracts to stabilize operational funding for childcare providers.
- $21.6 million in operational funding for the Illinois Department of Early Childhood (IDEC) created by PA 103-0594. During Fiscal Year 2026, IDEC will continue building up the operational infrastructure to support the centralization of early childhood education resources currently provided through other agencies.
- $10 million for Quality Contracts through Smart Start.
K-12 education investments
- $307 million increase for the Evidence-Based Funding (EBF) Formula to fully fund tier funding and bring total EBF commitments to $8.94 billion.
- $1.3 million increase for Career and Technical Education Programs to expand access to underserved students, utilizing an updated, equity-based formula.
- $3.5 million for Social and Emotional Learning Hubs and the Resilience Education to Advance Community Healing Program.
- $19.9 million increase, for a total of $1.16 billion in funding for grants for transportation and special education
- $30 million for the third year of funding for the Teacher Vacancy Grant Pilot Program.
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