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QUINCY, ILL. -- Illinois Governor Pat Quinn's proposed state budget calls for a more than one billion dollar cut in state funding for education.

That has caused Cheerful Home in Quincy to do away with one of its pre-school programs.

Just to be clear Cheerful Home will still have three pre-school classes and may be adding a fourth, it is not completely doing away with pre-school programs.

But cuts to education like that one could be hurting local economies.

According to a report by America's Edge, Quinn's proposed state education cuts would reduce sales of local goods and services across the state by $156 million.

Deputy Director of the that business Joe Weedon talked to local leaders this morning at Cheerful Home in Quincy about the importance of keeping early child care and education programs running.

"For every dollar the state invests in these programs. That money goes to centers to pay rent, to support staff and higher staff and their salaries, to buy stuff for the classroom. That money is then re-circulated into the community. We found it creates an additional 94 cents in spending on Main Street businesses," said Weedon.

Here's another finding, this one from a University of Chicago study.

For every $1 invested in early child care and education programs, states receive $16 in savings.

That's because kids in those programs are more likely to graduate high school, more likely to make higher wages and pay more taxes and less likely to end up in jail.