MADISON, Wis.— The White House announced Thursday that it would allocate $39 billion of American Rescue Plan Funding to help the child care industry struggling with fallout from the pandemic. Wisconsin is slated to get almost $580 million.
“I think it's as critical to who we are as a nation as basic infrastructure issues, as our education system,” said Ruth Schmidt, executive director at Wisconsin Early Childhood Association (WECA). “We are super grateful to see that the feds are going in the direction that they are in terms of major investments into early care and education, it is absolutely needed.”
Schmidt said child care is a critical part of infrastructure in the country and crucial to the economic recovery after the pandemic.
Many child care facilities in Wisconsin stayed open during the pandemic to try and help critical workforce needs. That came at a cost to facilities, as they operated with a lower number of clients and high operating costs due to pandemic safety measures.
“It's really been hard to say the least,” said Shirmiel Duncan, owner of Journey Together Child Care in Madison.
Duncan said they went from 25 kids before the pandemic to just a handful at times during. Though they decided to stay open to help families who needed a place for their kids and to help keep jobs for their employees.
“We modified our hours to basically accommodate both parents and ourselves, so kind of just to stay afloat, be there for the parents and be there for ourselves, and not be one of the centers that had to close permanently due to COVID.”
Duncan said she has appreciated federal aid so far; the state allocated federal dollars twice during the pandemic to some childcare facilities through a program called Child Care Counts. She also said she appreciates families that work with her center.
Duncan said the announcement of American Rescue Plan funding would be helpful, particularly as she looks for employees — a difficult task with workforce shortages for child care.
“I think it will be very helpful, it'll be helpful in aspects of being able to continue to provide a safe locations, continue to provide more pay to workers who are more than qualified to do the job,” Duncan said.
The White House says that Wisconsin is slated to get about $357 million for “Child Care Stabilization Funding” and another roughly $222 million for “Child Care Development Fund Flexible Funding.”
Schmidt said the stabilization funding will help many child care providers stay in business.
“I would say absolutely it will, and hopefully it also helps to grow the capacity of child care in our state,” Schmidt said.
Schmidt said prior to the pandemic half of the state lived in child care deserts, meaning more than three children lived in an area for every regulated slot of care in a community.
Schmidt said the state needs to grow its capacity for child care and address workforce needs — as an industry child care is one of the lowest industries in the U.S. For wages.
“If we can use these American rescue plan dollars to plug those holes and to really bolster this industry so that we can emerge in a much stronger place, I would consider that a major win for us,” Schmidt said.
Schmidt said child care is an issue with bipartisan support in Wisconsin, and as lawmakers continue with the ongoing budget process, she hopes they will continue to value the child care industry as essential.