Child care facilities closed by the Governor’s executive orders may reopen as early as the end of this month, State Representative Brad Halbrook said today. Halbrook (R-Shelbyville) said that thanks to relentless pressure from families throughout the state, Governor Pritzker this week agreed to allow childcare facilities to reopen when their community moves into phase three of his reopening plan (May 29th for most communities) with safety guidelines in place.
“This is a huge piece of the puzzle. Families need to get back to work, but that’s nearly impossible for some with all of their local child care options shut down,” Halbrook said. “Again families made their voices heard, and the Governor was forced to listen.”
Halbrook said that today 5500 childcare providers remain shut down in Illinois. All of these facilities will be able to reopen when their community moves into phase three reopening. For the first four weeks providers will be limited to 10 children per classroom. After four weeks of operating safely, they will be able to expand to larger class sizes.
“This is an issue that I, and many of my House Republican colleagues, have been corresponding about with the Governor for weeks. We need to get our communities open and running again, and reopening child care facilities is crucial.” Rep. Halbrook said.