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You

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You

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If you have children in childcare programs, expect tuition to go up and

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availability to go down.

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That's because temporary COVID-era funding takes place.

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If you have children in childcare programs, expect tuition to go up and

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availability to go down.

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That's because temporary COVID-era funding to help providers keep costs down

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and retain staff is set to expire at the end of June.

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The childcare bridge payments of $110 million took up after more robust

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federal stabilization funding ended.

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Results from a new report and survey from the Wisconsin Early Childhood

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Association show that three-quarters of providers across the state

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said they'll need to raise tuition and a quarter of providers said they're

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likely to close.

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We're joined now by Paula Drew, Director of Early Childhood Education Policy

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and Research for the Association.

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And thanks very much for being here.

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Thanks for having me.

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So with costs up elsewhere for food and fuel, how are working families who

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depend on childcare likely to respond to these tuition hikes?

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I think families around the state right now are sitting around tables like this

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asking themselves, does it make sense for one of us to keep working?

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If it makes sense, should we work part-time instead of sending our child

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to a licensed childcare program down the street?

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Perhaps we should entertain a grandparent, a neighbor because the cost of

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care is just becoming unaffordable to the point where those who have the

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means to access it will and those that don't simply will be sort of like priced

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out of the market.

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Because what kind of tuition increases could we be talking about in general?

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So 75% of childcare providers answered this question and they said we'll have

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to raise our tuition rates at least $25 per week.

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And so that's between $2,000 and $3,000 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 families can no longer afford it.

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So how meaningful was the original childcare counts program that used federal

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emergency COVID funds to stabilize the industry?

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The original childcare counts program was very meaningful and childcare

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providers have been on record over and over and over stating this is the first

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time I've ever been able to start a retirement account for our early educators.

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We are actually accessing health insurance for the very first time.

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Our early educators are earning a wage in which they only have to work one job.

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It also kept tuition rates affordable for parents.

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How much of Wisconsin providers gotten from both programs?

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Hundreds of millions of dollars.

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And so going from hundreds of millions of dollars over the past six years

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to nothing, it's easy to see why your survey results show that they will have

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to make some of these very difficult choices.

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That's right.

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For years on end childcare providers have been pending on this funding to meet the gap

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between what parents can pay and what it actually costs to provide high-quality

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childcare.

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And without those funds most people within the field are asking these same very

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important questions that parents are.

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Should we close?

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Should we let go of some staff?

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Should we lessen the hours of operations that we have?

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Stop providing food, stop providing busing, you know, cutting costs, right?

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Both parents and providers are trying to figure out how they can make the math work.

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So access to childcare is my understanding is that it's already difficult.

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But how stunning is it that a quarter of providers might have to close their

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operations?

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It's very dramatic.

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And I think when we dig into the numbers and we think about 25% of providers,

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

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seats available in the state, right?

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So family childcare providers can serve up to eight children at a time.

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But group programs can serve hundreds of children.

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So we're thinking about, you know, when you just think 25%, it's not just like

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across the board in terms of how many seats we have.

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

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And I also would estimate that that number is likely going to be larger

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than it was when the research was done.

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Is there any prospect that the state would replicate this funding?

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I would love to see this program be codified into law.

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

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States, red, blue, purple states making significant investments in the

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childcare sector and seeing really big returns on that investment.

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Anything's possible when you prioritize it.

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And yes, we would love to see this program continue.

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It had all the components that I think are needed to hold together at this

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market.

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For some policymakers, does that kind of funding smack of an entitlement?

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It can.

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And I think it's because the childcare sector itself is made up of.

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For-profit, nonprofit, family childcare providers,

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operating out of their homes, you know, large group programs.

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It's hard to sort of wrap your mind around it versus like a K-12 system.

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You need a teaching license.

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You need a certain amount of education to meet the teaching license.

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That doesn't mean that that's not also required in early care and education.

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But it's not what you think about because of the fabric of these providers

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in the state, you know, look different.

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But I would argue, you know, a wage and career ladder for early care and education

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based on experience and their own education is the same that is in K-12

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schools, right, in which is publicly funded.

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We see that as a public good.

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What's happening over here is the same exact thing.

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But it's entirely funded mostly by parent fees.

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All right.

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Well, Paula Drew, thanks very much.

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Thank you for having me.

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For more on this and other issues facing Wisconsin,

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visit our website at pbswisconsin.org and then click on the News tab.

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That's our program for tonight.

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I'm Frederica Fryberg.

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Have a good weekend.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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Yeah, I had three kids in child care.