Illinois is ahead of its’ goal to expand spots in pre-k and other early childhood education programs. A year ago, Governor JB Pritzker had a goal of 5,000 new pre-k spots and now he says the numbers are in and more than 5,800 spots have been added.

The state allocated $250 million in new funding to expand early childhood programs in the current fiscal year. The Governor will release his next budget in the coming weeks.