NEW GLARUS — For part of the day at least, parents of children who attended Corrine’s Little Explorers Child Day Care Center had to make other arrangements — just like many others in towns across the state.
And the reason is that the center and its owner, Corrine Hendrickson, were participating in a two-day, state-wide protest in which day cares were shuttered to demonstrate what many see as a desperate funding shortage.
They were joined by nearly 100 people, according to Hendrickson, who showed up at a New Glarus Park to protest the lack of state support for an industry for which demand is high but few centers can survive and thrive without assistance. That has driven the price of child care up, and available slots down across the state, officials and activists agree. Increasingly, for some parents, a second income in the family is impossible when paying, in some cases, as much as $14,000 per year for one child.
Gov. Tony Evers earlier this year was calling on state lawmakers to put $500 million in the 2025-27 budget “aimed at lowering child care costs, supporting this critical industry, and investing in employer-sponsored child care.”
The governor’s proposal, which has gone nowhere in the legislature, would have used state money to renew and make permanent a child care subsidy that began during the COVID-19 pandemic with federal funds. A previous attempt to extend the supplemental support ended in a deadlock in 2023.
But without the extra help, the state’s providers say they will remain in a crisis that has been building in recent years. That is especially galling, according to providers like Hendrickson, given that the state is operating with a more than $4 billion surplus.
Among programs funded by the money was the state’s Child Care Financial Assistance Program which subsidized costs for families based on income. It allowed centers to pay more staff, helping to increase the number of people willing to work in what is historically a very low-paying profession.
On Monday, she said she and other providers were heartened by the show of support for their cause from parents, who are increasingly getting involved in the issue.
“The loss of this (state) funding is making it real for a lot of folks,” said Hendrickson. “Many people were surprised when the funding was not restored, they didn’t think that was actually going to happen.”
They had been working for some time with State Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, but he was a no-show at the Monday protest, according to Hendrickson, who said absence was disappointing.
Main Street Alliance activists have estimated that without the COVID day care subsidy, constituents would lose 1,163 spots for children across Marklein’s Wisconsin Senate District 17.