MONROE — Bill Oemichen of New Glarus wears many caps, and he’s looking to add yet another. Oemichen is the president of the New Glarus School Board, is a research fellow at the University of Wisconsin, has a BA in economics, a Juris Doctorate and was an Adjunct Professor. He spent nine years on the board of Group Health Cooperative in Madison. He’s also a husband and father. By November, he hopes to add the title of State Assemblyman.

Oemichen is among the candidates for the District 50 position, which covers all of Green County as well as much of southern Dane. Rep. Jenna Jacobson (D-Oregon) currently holds the position, but she is running for the Senate District 17 seat this fall.

“I have driven 2,000 miles in the last two weeks, all within state borders,” Oemichen said, adding that it wasn’t just for campaigning, but rather mostly job-related travel. For his campaigning, he’s been testing his knees by going door to door, up and down local city streets.

On May 29, Oemichen met with Monroe childcare workers Tom and Christina Becker, as well as Jillynn Niemeier, owner of Blue Door Daycare and president of the Green County Child Care Network. The two-hour discussion focused on reimbursement rates for childcare workers, as well as potential strategies for childcare worker’s healthcare plans, be it through a cooperative or unionization.

Tom Becker mentioned that local New Glarus childcare advocates Corrine Hendrickson and Brooke Skidmore had been — at one point — discussing unionizing childcare workers in the state.

“I’m a co-op person — my background is in cooperatives,” Oemichen said. He told the his hosts about setting up a cooperative for health insurance for farmers and their families. “I managed to get the Commissioner of Insurance here in Wisconsin to agree to allow all these farmers — they’re all individually employed farmers — be considered part of a large group. As part of a large group for health insurance purposes, that gives them a lot of protections, whereas smaller employers don’t have that same protection. And part of that was the group rating as opposed to individual rating.”

He helped secure $6 million from the federal government for the farmers cooperative.

In Saskatchewan, Canada, with many municipalities in rural areas, finding childcare can be nearly impossible. Oemichen was among a select few that was chosen to help set up the legal framework for a government-funded system.

All four adults at the daycare agreed that early education plays a large role in a child’s future growth, and that in order to keep quality educators and caregivers in the industry, something in Wisconsin has to change to help the funding problems. This summer government subsidies are scheduled to end, which could spike weekly rates and potentially lead to 50% of childcare facilities in the county out of business.

“First of all, I think we all recognize that childcare educators are underpaid. There’s no issue about that,” Oemichen said. “I think most educators in the 4K-through-12 system are underpaid.”

Oemichen said that one thing he has tried to do in the New Glarus School District is to keep raising the level of compensation for its educators. He said, compared to most districts, NGSD teachers are compensated quite well, and the return on investment in the community has shown that it works — NGSD and its schools are among the highest rated public schools in the state year after year.

“There’s a correlation between quality and compensation,” Oemichen said.