This article was prepared for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in partnership with Illinois Capitol News. Subscribe to Dispatches to receive such stories as soon as they are published.
Sixty percent of rural Americans live in children’s deserts — regions where there are too few license slots for children. In rural Illinois, that number rises to nearly 70%.
Over the past decade, In Illinois, the number of licensed child care providers has dropped by 33%.losing almost 4,300 properties and around 38,000 licensed children’s places. These losses, driven by years of budget cuts, outpaced the decline in the child population and hit rural areas hardest. In 2019, his first year in office, Governor J. B. Pritzker acknowledged that rural providers are closing at an “alarming rate” and vowed to make Illinois “the best state in the country for families raising young children.”
While the state has increased payments to providers in recent years, it hasn’t been enough to reverse the damage from years of budget cuts. The COVID-19 pandemic has further destabilized an already fragile system. Despiteadditional state and federal funding, Illinois has lost about 1,300 providers since Pritzker took office.
But opening new facilities is difficult, and the government itself makes it difficult. Here are five reasons it is difficult to open and operate new child care centers in Illinois:
1. Policy Deferred Federal Assistance
Experts say opening a childcare center can cost more than $1 million, even in rural areas where people tend to think it’s cheaper to start a small business. Indeed, real estate can be less expensive than in urban areas, but it is often harder to find in regions where there is little new construction and many old buildings in need of expensive repairs.
The largest source of funding for child care in America comes from the federal Child Care and Development Grant funds, which are administered by the US Department of Health and Human Services. But most of it goes to child care reimbursement for low-income parents; only a few exceptions allow federal funds to be spent on the buildings themselves.
Federal efforts to reduce those start-up costs for rural areas include a proposed expansion of loans and grants through the Department of Agriculture, but the measure remains tied up in Congress under the long-delayed new farm bill.
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Julia Randleman for ProPublica
2. The state’s efforts to help did not go very far
Rebuild Illinois is a multi-year, $45 billion capital improvement plan that passed in 2019, the state’s first such plan in nearly a decade. Through it, the state allocated 100 million dollars for children’s preschool institutions. But in the first round of funding, only eight programs out of 238 applicants received a combined $55 million in January 2023, with the majority of grants awarded in Chicago and suburban areas. No service providers in the southern half of the state received funding. A second round of $45 million is planned, but no timeline has been announced.
3. Delays in issuing licenses and lack of personnel
The Illinois Department of Children and Families, which oversees child care licensing, is struggling with a staffing crisis. The agency has 20% vacancies for licensing staff and 45% for managers who must review and approve all applications for child care providers.
Illinois’ complicated licensing rules can be difficult to navigate, and providers say they can’t always get the information they need in a timely manner. Some say their applications have been left on hold for months or weeks without explanation. According to DCFS’ own report to the General Assemblythe agency misses its 90-day deadline for approving applications about a third of the time — and in regions with severe staff shortages, that rate can climb above 50%. Although licensing will soon move to the newly created Department of Early Childhood, most of the changes will not begin until mid-2026, and it is not yet clear what impact they will have on providers.
While DCFS acknowledges staffing shortages, the agency also attributes the delays to errors by document providers and holdups by other agencies, such as the state fire marshal or local officials.
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Julia Randleman for ProPublica
4. Outdated and contradictory rules
Illinois child care regulations, while designed to protect children, include outdated and conflicting rules that frustrate providers. For example, one rule requires blankets in every crib, even though the state prohibits the use of blankets for infants to sleep in to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS. Another rule requires vendors to carry coins on the walk to use a payphone in an emergency — a holdover from the pre-cell phone era.
Providers say that the inconsistencies in the rules further complicate the already complex process of opening and operating childcare centers. A DCFS spokesperson told Capitol News Illinois that the agency is working to update some regulations.
5. Low compensation rates for suppliers
The federal Child Care and Development Grant is the largest source of funding for child care in the United States. It is run by states and helps low-income families offset the high costs of child care. The money is paid directly to providers, and the federal government requires states to reimburse providers at least 50% of market rates and recommends a higher benchmark of 75%. However, Illinois falls short of both goals. As of April 2023, the state reimbursed less than 45% of market rates for child care centers, one of the largest disparities in the nation. Such underfunding violates federal equal access provisions, although state officials said a recent increase in subsidies brought Illinois into compliance in most categories.
Rural service providers face additional obstacles beyond inadequate reimbursement rates. High start-up costs and low population density make it difficult to fill classes quickly, adding to the financial burden. Even providers offering unsubsidized care struggle to set fees that reflect the true cost of operations, as many families who earn barely enough to qualify for a subsidy cannot afford to pay the higher rates.
This persistent funding shortfall puts service providers, especially in rural areas, in a difficult financial position.
