January 26, 2025 -Over 5,000 preschool seats have opened for low-income families in Illinois through Smart Start Illinois in the past year.
Smart Start Illinois is an initiative of Gov. JB Pritzker that’s designed to expand publicly funded preschool programs and increase the number of preschool seats available to 80% of all working families in Illinois. Lawmakers first approved the program in 2023.
Since then, the state has added 11,000 seats…