If you have children in child
care programs, expect tuition
to go up and a fit.
I'm sorry, you guys, I was caught
off guard a little bit when I was
on.
If you have children in childcare
programs, expect tuition to go
up and availability to go down.
That's because temporary COVID era
funding to help providers keep costs
down and retain staff is
set to expire at the end of June.
The childcare bridge payments of
$110 million took
up after more robust federal
stabilization funding ended.
Results from a new report and
survey from the Wisconsin Early
Childhood Association show
that three quarters of providers
across the state said they'll need
to raise tuition and a
quarter of providers said they're
likely to close.
We're joined now by Paula Drew,
Director of Early Childhood
Education Policy and Research
for the association.
And thanks very much for being here.
Thanks for having me.
So with costs up elsewhere
for food and fuel.
How are working families
who depend on childcare
likely to respond to
these tuition hikes?
I think families around the
state right now are sitting around
tables like this asking themselves,
does it make sense for one of us to
keep working?
If it makes sense, should we
work part time?
Instead of sending our child to
a licensed child care program down
the street, perhaps we
should entertain a grandparent,
a neighbor, because the
cost of care is just becoming
unaffordable to the point where
those who have the means...
To access it will and
those that don't simply will be sort
of like priced out of the market.
Because what kind of tuition
increases could we be talking about
in general?
So 75% of child
care providers answered
this question. And they said, we
will have to raise our tuition rates
at least $25 per
week.
And so that's between
2,000 and $3,000 per year.
It's already pretty
expensive. It's all ready I think at
the point where some families can no
longer afford it.
So how meaningful was the original
childcare counts program that
used federal emergency COVID funds
to stabilize the industry?
The original Child Care Accounts
program was very meaningful
and child care providers have been
on record over and over and
overstating, this is the first time
I've ever been able to start a
retirement account for our
early educators.
We are actually accessing
health insurance for the very first
time.
Our early educators are earning a
wage in which they only have to work
one job.
It also kept tuition rates
affordable for parents.
How much have Wisconsin providers
gotten?
From both programs?
Hundreds of millions of dollars.
And so going from
hundreds of millions of dollars over
the past six years to
nothing, it's easy to see
why your survey results show that
they will have to make some of these
very difficult choices.
That's right.
For years on end, child care
providers have been depending on
this funding to meet
the gap between what parents can
pay and what it actually costs to
provide high quality child care.
And without those funds,
most people within the field
are asking these same very hard
questions that parents are.
Should we close?
Should we let go of some staff?
Should we lessen the hours of
operations that we have?
Stop providing food?
Stop providing bussing.
You know, cutting costs, right?
Both parents and providers are
trying to figure out how they can
make the math work.
So access to child care
is, my understanding is that it's
already difficult,
but how stunning is it that
a quarter of providers
might have to close their operation?
It's very dramatic, and I think when
we dig into the numbers and we think
about 25%
of providers, now 25% percent
of group providers, that's
a really significant amount of
child care seats available in the
state, right, so.
Family child care providers can
serve up to eight children at a
time, but group programs can serve
hundreds of children.
So we're thinking about, you know,
when you just think 25%, it's
not just like across the
board in terms of how many seats we
have.
And I think that's going to be
really stark. And I also would
estimate that that number is
likely going to be larger than
it was when the research was
done.
Is there any prospect that the
state would replicate this
funding?
I would love to see this program
be codified into law.
I think we have seen
examples from all over the country,
states, red, blue, purple states,
making significant investments in
the childcare sector and seeing
really big returns on
that investment.
Anything's possible when you
prioritize it.
And yes, we would love to see the
program continue.
It had all the components that I
think are needed
to hold together this market.
It is, for some policy
makers, does that kind of
funding smack of an entitlement?
It can, and I think it's
because the childcare sector itself
is made up of for-profit,
non-profit family childcare
providers operating out of their
homes, large group programs.
It's hard to sort of wrap your mind
around it versus like
a K-12
system. You need a teaching license,
you need a certain amount of
education to meet that teaching
license. That doesn't mean
that that's not also required in
early care and education, but it's
not what you think about because of
the the fabric of
these providers in the state
look different.
But I would argue a
wage and career ladder for early
care and education based
on experience and
their own education is
the same that is in K-12
schools, right?
And which is publicly
funded.
We see that as a public good.
What's happening over here is the
exact same thing, but it's
entirely funded mostly by parent
fees.
Alright, well Paula Drew, thanks
very much. Thank you for having me.
For more on this and other issues
facing Wisconsin, visit our website
at pbswisconsin.org
and then click on the news tab.
That's our program for tonight.
I'm Frederica Freiberg.
Have a good weekend.
Yeah, I had three kids in childcare.