 Starting July 1st, Illinois will have a new state agency set to roll out over the next three years to handle all things early childhood development. Governor J.B. Pritzker signed Senate Bill 1 on Tuesday. He said transferring early childhood services from three different state agencies to a new one will streamline things for parents. Hundreds of fifth grade students and their teachers will benefit from an $8,000 grant from Bayer Fund, a philanthropic arm of Bayer in the U.S.,