Illinois lawmakers made a significant contribution to children and the state’s future with the passage of the $50.4 billion budget that takes effect July 1.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the budget, which includes a $180 million surplus, earlier this month. The measure includes hundreds of millions more for education from preschool to college.

The funds dedicated to early education will improve the lives of children. That, in turn, serves as an investment in the state’s future.

“Birth-to-five services and kindergarten readiness are the foundation for the rest of our children’s educational experiences,” Pritzker said at the bill’s signing, according to Capitol News Illinois.

The state will spend millions more on Smart Start Illinois, a preschool and kindergarten program designed to ensure children begin school with the skills they need to learn. Part of that money will go to pay for early childhood workers. Other additional funds will help pay for early intervention programs and home visits.

Children’s ability to learn develops dramatically from birth to age 7. These programs are designed to help identify potential learning issues and provide ways to remedy them. They will allow children to attend kindergarten ready to learn, with the necessary school skills already mastered.

Few other investments will mean as much to Illinois’ future as providing as much help as necessary to ensure every child can learn at the best of his or her ability. Brain power will be the key to Illinois’ future success.

Not every child benefits from a home life where education is respected and encouraged. These programs will help offset those deficits.

As a way to boost the state’s current education offerings, the budget also increases funding to higher education scholarships awarded to students based on their need, for scholarships that target academically talented students to enroll in Illinois schools and in scholarships to help recruit more minorities to become teachers.

With many of the state’s school districts facing teacher shortages, some have made compromises in teacher qualifications in their efforts to build a full staff. Encouraging more students to become teachers will eliminate the need for those compromises and put stronger educators in front of every student.

That kind of commitment is sure to pay off for the state and its students in the near future.

Even though no Republican member of the Illinois House of Representatives or Senate voted for the budget in the latest bit of political theater, it doesn’t mean GOP members don’t agree with the focus on schools. Senate Minority Leader John Curran, R- Downers Grove, told Capitol News Service that more money for education was among his party’s top priorities.

Teachers and education both have become easy targets in the partisan political battles playing out in Springfield as well as in Congress. Yet the simple fact remains that providing quality schools for today’s young people will pay dividends for all Illinois residents a few years down the road.

The most recent budget announces loud and clear that improving education will remain one of the primary goals for Illinois. And that’s a good thing.