There is a crisis in the state of Wisconsin as it relates to Childcare and the affordability and accessibility of said childcare. Currently Senator Marklein and Representative Novak and their fellow Republicans are neglecting to help stop childcares centers from closing across the state.
As many have heard, there was a pandemic funding from the Federal Government, which is set to expire in Jan. 2024, without this funding an estimated 2,000 family and group childcares will close in the state of Wisconsin. Prior to that, the JFC rejected DCF’s proposal for funding a program like Child Care Strong to include funding to assist with the ever-growing crisis in the 2021-23 state budget, but since the state had federal monies coming the legislature said no to the already agreed bipartisan funding and use the federal funding to see if it worked. The answer to that question: IT WORKED! It slowed down the pace of childcare closings along with increasing the wages by $2 per hour to a still unacceptable rate of $12.66 per hour, especially when you can go to a local fast-food restaurant and make $15 per hour.
Senator Marklein has had seven family or group centers close in his district, and he has not publicly made any comments regarding these closures. These closings have caused undue hardship on parents who get minimal notice of their program closing. This undue hardship then causes those parents to scramble to find care if they can, change their working hours so one parent can stay home with their child(ren) or leave the workforce. When this happens, it hurts the parents’ finances as potentially less income, hurts the employers as they cannot find workers and then it hurts the state’s economy.
Our state currently has a $3.5 billion surplus, and many people say spend it here or there, why don’t we invest it into the future of the state, our children between the birth-to-5 (paid FMLA is part of that and we get babies as young as 6 weeks). This investment will pay off in the long run as parents will be able to work, employers will have workers and money will come into the state as tax dollars and dollars spent on the local economy. Family daycare along with group centers have or will be increasing tuition by an average of 26% across the state, and there are a lot of families who cannot afford $30-$50 per week tuition hikes so the provider may end up closing their doors.
I understand that putting $365 million dollars into childcare from the surplus is hard for some to agree with, but investing in the future is the right way to go.
Providers in Green County have asked repeatedly for Senator Marklein and Representative Novak to come and visit our centers, only Senator Marklein has, and then he tried to control the conversation. Representative Novak will not return a phone call or email asking to speak with him on this issue. All the providers in Green County and across the state want is to sit down and have a civil discussion with our senators, representatives, business owners, parents and childcare professionals to figure out a long-term solution so we can have high quality and affordable childcare for our children.
Why not invest the $365 million into Child Care Counts to help keep future closings and then sit down and have a real conversation over the next few months and figure out the best way to support one of the hardest professions in the country.
— Why Child Care Matters is a series written by local child care providers. Tom and Christina Becker run Christina’s Family Day Care in Monroe.
