SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WTVO) — Illinois Governor JB Pritzker wants to expand access to pre-school for all children across the state.

A group of lawmakers want to take it a step further.

A proposal in the Capitol would give early childcare providers a big raise. They want to set a wage floor at $25 per hour for those providers.

The bill sponsors believe that it would help retain teachers in the field.

“In order to maintain the size of the early education workforce, we have to recruit 5,000 new providers every single year, but we can’t recruit the workforce we need when edge early educators are making poverty wages,” said Senator Ram Villivalam.

The state set a new minimum salary for teachers at $40,000 per year several years ago.