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from Portage. I'm Steven
Potter for "Here& Now".

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>> If you have children and
child care programs, expect

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tuition to go up and
availability to go down.

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That's because temporary
Covid era funding to help

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providers keep costs down
and retain staff is set to

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expire at the end of June.
The child care bridge

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payments of $110 million
took up after more robust

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federal stabilization
funding ended results from

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a new report and survey
from the Wisconsin Early

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Childhood Association show
that three quarters of

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providers across the state
said they'll need to raise

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tuition, and a quarter of
providers said they're

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likely to close. We're
joined now by Paula Drew,

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director of early childhood
education policy and

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research for the
association, and thanks

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very much for being here.
>> Thanks for having me.

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>> So with costs up
elsewhere for food and fuel,

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how are working families
who depend on childcare

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likely to respond to these
tuition hikes?

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>> I think families around
the state right now are

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sitting around tables like
this, asking themselves,

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does it make sense for one
of us to keep working? If

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it makes sense, should we
work part time instead of

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sending our child to a
licensed child care program

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down the street? Perhaps we
should entertain a

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grandparent, a neighbor,
because the cost of care is

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just becoming unaffordable
to the point where those

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who have the means to
access it will, and those

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that don't simply will be
sort of priced out of the

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market.
>> Because what kind of

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tuition increases could we
be talking about in general?

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>> So 75% of child care
providers at answer this

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question, and they said, we
will have to raise our

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tuition rates at least $25
per week. And so that's,

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you know, between 2000 and
$3000 per year.

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>> It's already pretty
expensive.

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>> It's already, I think,
at the point where some

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families can no longer
afford it.

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>> So how meaningful was
the original "Child Care

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Counts" program that used
federal emergency Covid

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funds to stabilize the
industry?

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>> The original "Child Care
Counts" program was very

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meaningful, and child care
providers have been on

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record over and over and
over, stating, this is the

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first time I've ever been
able to start a retirement

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account. For our early
educators, we are actually

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accessing health insurance
for the very first time.

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Our early educators are
earning a wage in which

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they only have to work one
job. It also kept tuition

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rates affordable for
parents.

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>> How much of Wisconsin
providers gotten from both

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programs?
>> Hundreds of millions of

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dollars.
>> And so going from

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hundreds of millions of
dollars over the past six

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years to nothing, it's easy
to see why your survey

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results show that they will
have to make some of these

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very difficult choices.
>> That's right. For years

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on end, childcare providers
have been depending on this

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funding to meet the gap
between what parents can

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pay and what it actually
costs to provide high

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quality childcare. And
without those funds, most

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people within the field are
asking these same, very

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hard questions that parents
are should we close? Should

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we let go of some staff?
Should we lessen the hours

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of operations that we have,
stop providing food, stop

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providing bussing, you know,
cutting costs, right? Both

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parents and providers are
are trying to figure out

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how they can make the math
work.

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is my understanding is that
it's already difficult, but

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how stunning is it that a
quarter of providers might

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have to close their
operations?

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>> It's very dramatic. And
I think when we dig into

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the numbers and we think
about 25% of providers now,

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25% of group providers,
that's a really significant

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amount of child care seats
available in the state.

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Right? So family child care
providers can serve up to

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eight children at a time,
but group programs can

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serve hundreds of children.
So we're thinking about,

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you know, when you just
think 25%, it's not just

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like across the board in
terms of how many seats we

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have. And I think that's
going to be really stark.

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And I also would estimate
that that that number is

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likely going to be larger
than it was when the

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research was done.
>> Is there any prospect

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that the state would
replicate this funding?

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>> I would love to see this
program be codified into

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law. I think we have seen
examples from all over the

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country states, red, blue,
purple states making

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significant investments in
the childcare sector and

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seeing really big returns
on that investment.

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Anything's possible when
you prioritize it. And yes,

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we would love to see this
program continue it. It had

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all the components that I
think are needed to hold

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together. This market.
>> Is, for some

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policymakers, does that
kind of funding smack of an

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entitlement?
>> It can and I think it

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it's because the childcare
sector itself is is made up

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of for profit, nonprofit
family child care providers

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operating out of their
homes, you know, large

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group programs. It's hard
to sort of wrap your mind

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around it versus like a
K-12 system. You need a

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teaching license, you need
a certain amount of

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education to meet the
teaching license. That

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doesn't mean that that's
not also required in early

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care and education, but
it's not what you think

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about because of the the
fabric of these providers

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in the state, you know,
look different. But I would

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argue a, you know, a wage
and career ladder for early

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care and education based on
experience. And their own

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education is the same. That
is in K-12 schools, right?

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In which is public is
publicly funded. We see

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that as a public good.
What's happening over here

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is the same exact thing,
but it's entirely funded