MADISON, Wis. — With both parts of the shared revenue deal approved by both chambers of the state Legislature, the focus has returned to Wisconsin’s budget for the next two years.
Democrats on the Joint Finance Committee have repeatedly called for Gov. Tony Evers’ Child Care Counts program to receive the funding it needs to survive. So far, those efforts have met resistance from Republicans who said the funds don’t belong in the budgets Democrats have previously suggested, including the workforce development pot of money.
With members expected to take up the Department of Children and Families budget for debate Thursday evening, it was the last chance to fight for the funding as parents and child care providers spent their morning on the steps of the Capitol to urge lawmakers to save a program that saved them.
“I’m tired. There’s a lot of inconsistency,” Brooke Skidmore, who operates The Growing Tree child care center in New Glarus, told the crowd. “It’s been really hard these last few years. Child Care Counts is really the only thing that has keep our doors open during this time.”
Since 2020, federal funds have supported Child Care Counts, which was started during the pandemic to help keep child care providers afloat and recruit staff. That includes Skidmore and her center, where Tim Ballard sends his daughter, which wasn’t always an option during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“As a family with two working parents, it meant one of us putting our career on hold, and financial and mental health stress that comes with that, and we’re the lucky ones,” Ballard shared. “You know, for many families, that’s simply not an option.”
Though he doesn’t have kids of his own, Evan Dannells, chef and owner of Cadre restaurant in Madison, understands the struggle. For the last three years, Dannells hasn’t had a manager in his business because his sous chef needed to stay home to care for children who were wait-listed for child care spots.
“Access to child care, like accessible, affordable child care, is probably the single largest hurdle that stops people from having a job in my industry versus being able to have a career,” Dannells explained.
With the federal money set to expire early next year, which was already cut sooner than expected, it is now up to state lawmakers on the budget committee to decide whether to fulfill the governor’s request for $340 million to keep the program going at its current level.
Skidmore, who has used the grant funding to hire staff and keep costs down for parents, now worries that will change if the program is only partially funded or receives no allocation whatsoever.
“If they choose not to fund it, and you can’t find workers, you know who to blame for that, I guess,” Skidmore said.