MONROE — As federal dollars into a popular childcare program run dry, the state of Wisconsin is caught in a conundrum, and leaders are proposing two entirely different plans of action.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government originally provided more than $300 million to the Child Care Counts program to support providers as a part of the American Rescue Plan, helping cover costs of staffing and operations. This past June, that funding dropped to $90 million, and, after three years in service, will end entirely in January 2024.

To replace the helpful cost, local providers would then be tasked with figuring out what to do next, with the options on the table of either raising rates or closing down. A recent study by The Century Foundation suggests that about 1/4 of child care programs in the state alone could close, about 2,110 in total, which could lead to more than 87,000 kids losing their child care. The Bipartisan Policy Center said there are already 117,090 children without access to childcare in the state.

Conducted by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, a different survey found that more than 63% of Wisconsin child care centers have staffing shortages and 80% of workers are facing burnout and exhaustion. The survey also indicated that 32% of child care center owners would consider leaving their job or closing their program if economic conditions don’t improve.

Simply put, families are already burdened with high child care costs. Some parents would lose child care services from their local provider closing down, and others might not be able to afford rising costs. Some families may opt for one parent to leave their job to stay home with their young children, further burdening the local and state workforce. Child care workers themselves are struggling financially.

According to Brooke Skidmore, co-owner of the Growing Tree, a home-centered child care center in New Glarus, the median pay for child care workers in the state was $10.66 before the federal funding was provided. That number went up $2 per hour with federal funds, according to the child advocacy organization Kids Forward.

The 40.6% statewide childcare gap, the number of children that could need childcare but cannot reasonably access it, is already high, but up to 82.9% in Richland County, one of the worst in the state. Richland County, in Wisconsin Senate District 17, is represented by Republican Howard Marklein, the chair of the chair of the Committee on Finance and the co-chair on the Joint Finance Committee. District 17 also includes parts of Green, Lafayette, Grant, Sauk, Iowa, Vernon and Juneau counties.

In fact, since the beginning of the summer, Marklein’s district has lost five daycare providers, including one in Monroe.

Marklein visits Monroe daycare

On Aug. 31, Marklein was in Monroe at Christina’s Family Daycare to talk with providers Christina and Tom Becker, as well as former child care provider Andrea Priebe and other concerned parents and childcare advocates, like Katlyn Graebner at the Green County Foster Care & Adoption Resource Center.

The Beckers have provided an in-home daycare facility for more than two decades in Monroe. Christina followed in the footsteps of her mother, who was also a daycare worker. Christina got certified in the 1990s. Their eldest son, Ben, had a medical condition, and working from home was a way that allowed her to care for her son while also earning a living. Ben, now in his mid-20s, is working for Purdue University’s athletics department, and their second son, Noah, is a senior at UW-Parkside. Christina said that both boys are Eagle Scouts and are where they are at in life because they received quality daycare in their home.

Many in the industry don’t make much for a wage. Some providers in Monroe pay their employees as little as $9 per hour. Tom, who is dealing with back problems, is assisting his wife with her daycare, but he said he doesn’t make a dime. They’ve chosen to live a simple life, but still live month to month. They’ve been married for 35 years this October and haven’t taken a vacation together. Tom started saving for one six months ago, and the trip is booked to celebrate their anniversary. Any other savings for regular home maintenance, like re-surfacing a driveway, has taken up to five years. Even still, Tom said he and Christina don’t want to raise their rates, because they don’t want to add the extra burden to their clients.

“We survive, that’s all we do,” he said.

“Anybody who is doing this job is because they love the children – it’s not about the money,” Priebe reiterated.

Each parent and provider has their struggles, Graebner told Marklein. Every situation is different. There are a set of rules for foster children, and other rules based on age, siblings and only-children. Scheduling transportation and hours of operation are another hassle, let alone following all the state rules for certified providers.

“DCF says that for foster kids, they have to go to a licensed or certified provider,” Graebner said, which trims the available placement. “We have kids that have to be placed outside of the community, because there is no child care available here in Green County, because there is nobody to watch them.” 

Graebner said some parents who have lost their children due to neglect was because the parent had to go to work in order to support their basic needs, but had no available child care services. 

“It’s just a vicious cycle. It seems like the catalyst could be affordable child care,” Graebner said. 

Even recruiting foster parents is hard, she said, because for a lot of families, both parents are currently working to make ends meet. 

“It makes our jobs harder, and it makes it harder on the kids — and they don’t need that; they are just kids,” Graebner said.

We have one foster home in Green County that doesn’t have two working parents,” Graebner said. “There’s only one home with a stay-at-home parent, and they just got licensed last week. We already have a plan for kids to go to them.”

Openings at certified daycares are tight. One of Becker’s clients have two infants that are not old enough to join their sibling in daycare, and even then, Becker is fully booked. 

Graebner’s former daycare provider had to take an emergency medical leave, and she was thankful Becker had an opening at the time. But that’s not always the case. One of Graebner’s co-workers is pregnant and due in December, and only one county child care provider will have an opening — and it’s not until June 2024.

“Out of all the providers in Green County, only one could take her when she is 6-months old,” Graebner said the family is hopeful a mother-in-law can provide care for many of the months in between.

Priebe closed her fully-enrolled daycare for a year in order to finally get knee surgeries that she had been putting off. She said she feels guilty and is letting down the kids and families she provided care for, all while knowing she put off her own physical needs for far too long. She told Marklein she doesn’t know if she will reopen once healed.

Marklein asked the adults attending questions based on ages of the kids they care for, other options around the city, like Head Start programs, what local businesses like SSM Health Monroe and Colony Brands provide. 

He also asked what could be done to make the process better. The answer was simple: Continue to supplement the Child Care Counts program.

State lawmakers have different plans

During the state’s budgeting process, Democratic Governor Tony Evers laid out plans to spend more than $1 billion of the state’s $4 billion surplus to tackle the child care funding problem. His proposals included $340 million to maintain the Child Care Counts program, and a $22 million program that would allow employers to purchase child care spots for their employees at regulated facilities across the state.

Evers also proposed $240 million to fund an expanded paid family leave program, which would allow workers to be eligible for 12 weeks of leave beginning in 2025. The program would be self-sustaining by 2026, and then would be funded through payroll contributions shared by employees and employers, Evers’ office stated. The current law allows just two weeks of leave, and there are further qualifications that need to be met.

Republicans, which hold majorities in both legislative houses in the state, rejected those proposals. 

Evers followed that up in August by calling for a special legislative session this fall to come up with a plan for the dire child care situation, which will be held later this month on Sept. 20. 

Republicans have come up with a proposal of their own to curb the situation. However, instead of supplementing costs, their ideas including loosening restrictions, like allowing more children into daycare settings, and dropping the age of daycare assistants. They also proposed the creation of a pre-tax savings account for families, similar to a health care flex spending account, which could provide families up to $10,000 in pre-tax savings for child care costs.

Earlier this summer, Republicans also introduced a bill to make child care products like strollers and diapers exempt from the state’s sales and use taxes. Republicans have estimated the change would save parents $37 million over the next two years.

Republicans are currently circulating the bills for co-sponsors.

Whether the Republican proposals will provide any relief, there will still be closures and rising costs for parents. 

“Without affordable child care, people are going to stay home to watch their kids. Our economy is going to go down the tubes because people aren’t working,” said Tom Becker.

“I feel like it’s ‘If You Give A Mouse A Cookie,’” Graebner said, relating it to the children’s book written by Laura Numeroff. “If there’s no child care, parents can’t work. If parent’s can’t work, they can’t meet their kids’ basic needs. If they can’t meet their kids’ basic needs, they are at risk for abuse. If they are at risk for abuse, they are at risk for foster care. But then if there are no foster parents, because there’s no daycare, then they have to get placed in other counties or other areas.”

The Beckers were thankful to have Sen. Marklein in town to talk about their operation and the child care industry as a whole. However, they weren’t convinced they were fully heard.

“Overall it went good, but I’m afraid everything went in one ear and out of the other,” Christina Becker said.

The Beckers, along with Graebner, Priebe and other local providers and parents of children currently enrolled in daycare, wrote formal letters  to Marklein and state politicians regarding their plight.

In all, more than 200 signatures were sent to state legislators in hopes to persuade lawmakers away from those proposals, led by Skidmore and Corrine Hendrickson, of Corinne’s Little Explorers, also in New Glarus. Hendrickson has been able to speak ever louder about the issue than many of her peers. She has spoken at committee hearings both in Madison and in Washington D.C.

Hendrickson and Skidmore wrote in their letter, which accompanied the petition, that the bills “will actually decrease the childcare workforce, decrease quality, and price-out parents from having access to childcare.”

“None of the proposals are based on actual research or data,” the letter said. “The proposed policy changes are in complete opposition to best practices and unequivocal research in early childhood education and development.”