All right, and I got one for Willow Brownie.
Not Willow Brownie?
Willow.
Just Willow.
Okay, if you say no.
Black one.
Yeah, yeah.
I don't pay me my flower.
Okay, now can you do the background?
Like Katie and I said, what color do you want to do your background?
You could draw some, maybe you could paint some grass.
So it looks like the flowers growing out of the grass.
Or maybe a sunset in the background.
I want a picture.
You're right.
It looks like a third sign.
I think this one.
I've provided it back to you.
That's a good idea.
That's how it looks better.
Like the sun, I love it.
Anytime we can follow up on top of the tree.
You want to paint the sky around the sky.
Let's go.
No.
Those are really cool colors.
It's very springy.
What colors are you going to paint in the background, Marley?
You don't know.
Maybe you can paint about it.
Don't want to paint any of the sun.
It looks like a guy.
It doesn't come.
Good morning.
I made a sun and a flower.
Good morning.
Good counting.
All of our colors.
Everybody has eight colors.
That's what we have.
That's fine.
She does.
You do.
You have eight too.
I'm glad I made a sun.
My name is Jay.
That's how you could leave the moon.
You could go through the dark.
And there's a blue and an egg.
Oh, she has rain early.
So, yeah, again.
You can paint when you come out on your cake here.
You look good job.
Now, the paint of garden.
A garden?
Yeah.
A garden?
You did it.
That is awesome.
Hey, everybody.
Hi.
I made a sun.
That is perfect.
That's perfect.
You know.
Remember how last week when it was wet outside?
We saw one more.
Maybe you could paint some more.
I want to draw a map.
Okay.
Yeah.
And the color.
You can go over it.
Yup.
You can go over your blue lines.
And you can go over your chain.
We love it.
As long as you don't go over it with the color black.
Right?
The color black.
And you might not be able to paint.
Yeah.
And you're better isn't it?
We do.
What?
Is it a real?
It's a good choice.
Yeah.
Okay.
I'm ranking.
And I'm going to give a color black.
Yeah.
And I am.
No, but red is kind of like favorite.
My name is Willow.
Yeah.
You're going to make a guy? Okay, show me.
Yeah.
Oh, okay.
If you draw a circle.
You like circles?
We need to do like those.
What do you do?
All right.
We do.
All right.
You can just go outside.
We like this.
It's a orange.
It's a red one.
You can just get on your drive-ins.
It's a guy.
Get out out of the mouth.
Look at my jokes turning around.
Oh, yeah.
Hey.
Uh, you don't know.
Yeah, but I would look at different colors
so that we can see the eyes and the mouth.
Okay.
Come on, Willow.
We're a horse.
How are you going to do that?
I don't think this is
Luna.
It's supposed to be a gun.
But you're right. I think it does look more like a gun.
It's hard to tell if it's a background colored paper too.
Now the nail.
It changes the color just a little bit.
It's nice.
Will you do it in a little smile?
Yeah.
Can you mix it?
Look all around.
No.
That's what happens when all the colors...
Oh, and we have all worked in progress.
We're all working progress.
So pretty.
Yeah.
Let's make it go.
You're gonna borrow your napkin here.
I like the colors you're using.
You can get more water too if you need it.
Right.
Yeah, there you go.
Okay.
Oh yeah.
We need some water.
It's good here, right?
Can you put it there?
Good job.
And then put it on your paper.
Nice.
Wow, that's pretty cool.
Okay.
Oh, really?
That makes...
Do you know what color that makes teal?
I'm green, I'm green.
Big teal.
Okay.
I'll do it again.
Whoa.
Oh my God.
I'm gonna draw maybe a little.
Wow.
Maybe it's more of a sun.
Maybe you should go.
Oh, and you can do it.
Hi, my friends.
We are going to make one more mark on our paper.
So you can do one more color.
And then we're gonna start cleaning it up
because we are going to go outside.
Yay.
So let's do this.
One more color on your paper.
And then you know what?
We'll get to the outside of the floor.
Just like you did a circle.
Really?
Thank you.
Nice to meet you.
Go around the circle.
So about a high level.
Okay, now put on a drawing.
It is?
Yay!
It's pretty good.
We're gonna bring you the drawing rack.
Yes?
Can you help me clean up?
All right, help me.
Help me what I need to do with this.
We're gonna have to sweater.
Oh, yeah, next we're going to go back.
All right, we're gonna go put it on the drawing rack.
Are you ready?
All right, so we've got the drawing rack.
All right, we're going to go right there.
We're gonna go wash our paper.
We're gonna wash our paper.
You ready?
That's good.
Put this in the middle.
It's like a small middle.
All right, now do close up the...
Oh, the babies.
No, it's just in this room with your caregivers.
Okay.
Got it.
The other part is that I could fill this room, but I can't stop it.
Okay.
So if I have somebody leave, it's me or something.
Right, right.
Or I tell parents I don't have check for them.
Uh-huh, which is something I know want to do.
No.
So you mean parents that you already have, you don't want to tell them.
Sorry, not today.
Right.
Yep.
And would you do infants in the other room also?
I did it at one time.
Okay.
One time I had 65 and I had 34.
Wow.
Okay.
So that shows you.
Yes.
And I just want to pick you up.
I feel like I have to say I'm happy.
And I feel like the engineer of my Spanish speakers.
Hi.
And Julian, that's her son that you were setting next to.
Oh, great.
I painted with Julian.
He did a wonderful job.
Yes.
So most of my staff now are, I like to say more mature in my 30s and 40s, but they know
why they're here.
I know what they're doing is important.
Sure, sure.
Um, sometimes it's hard to hold on to untrained young people.
Yeah.
Well, it's, it can get, having had twins, it can get stressful, you know.
So being knowing you can get through it.
Thank you.
Hey, boy and girl.
Oh, they are different sizes.
You came out big, didn't you?
Yes.
Fisher and Andy.
Yeah.
Fisher and Andy.
Hi.
And they're four months.
Yeah.
Oh, they look like they came out pretty well.
Yes, you did.
Good job.
Take care of your mom.
Something else to take care of.
And then in the string time, the garden is coming here.
Yeah.
I saw that coming in.
That's amazing.
She is in charge of all of that.
Okay.
She does the gardening.
Uh, and in the back.
She.
So.
We have gardens.
We have been there.
Uh huh.
We're working on a native garden out front too.
So this will be over here.
It's half the bathroom.
Oh, that's fun.
Yeah.
And do you, do you, um, the kids help and?
Yeah, they do.
Yep.
Um, especially with our bedroom back here.
They are really good.
They're pretty good.
Fun.
They're pretty cool.
Oh, that's fun.
Yeah.
They do have looking chickens.
Yeah, they do.
They're really good helpers.
And are you guys, have their outside year round?
You make the effort to come out and be outside.
I saw a set that is in the single digits.
We're not kind of, you know.
Sure, sure.
But anything other than that.
I came in here.
It's pretty cool.
That's art feature.
And so how, so from, you have four month old twins.
What's the biggest?
I've had kids start at six weeks.
Okay.
So six weeks and the oldest is, um, the oldest.
I'm going to start at 12.
So that's the age class.
Are you talking about just in the open room or in the center?
In the center.
So that would be like after school care.
Yeah, okay.
And summer care.
Okay.
Got it.
And depending on for those intermediate.
Sometimes I get to be for a school because the intermediate starts a little bit later.
Okay.
Then everybody else.
Okay.
Then I have them as well.
Okay.
So it's a different dynamic with 12 year olds here.
I would imagine.
Yeah.
It exists at their school and grandkids have only got like three or four of them.
Uh huh.
And most of them are kids that have, they're either teacher kids or kids that have been there forever.
Got it.
Being dropped from the sky.
No.
I put them to work honestly.
Okay.
Staff in the afternoon.
That kind of thing.
Do you, you prepare all the food or they bring their food?
They bring their own lunch.
Okay.
They provide morning and afternoon snack.
Okay.
And then milk or water with altar.
Got it.
Meals.
Got it there.
Yep.
And how long have you been in the center?
Twenty years.
Wow.
Okay.
Um, and I live in this neighborhood.
Okay.
So I give my mother credit.
We were taking a lock in and she said, well, that really would make you a great priest.
And I was like, oh, and there it is.
I'm 11 months later.
And my younger.
Was it like an empty church at that point?
It had sat big and for three years.
Okay.
Um, a lot of help from the department of children and families to get that license that way.
And then I didn't have a business partner.
But since 2014, I've been here in my own room.
Okay.
Yeah.
This is our space.
Sure.
Yeah.
Katie brings them in here.
Um, we try and utilize it one time per week.
Okay.
Um, and I was still in Lucas too.
I own this building.
Okay.
So, and I'd be very transparent with people.
My mortgage is like $1,500 a month.
So that's why I can do this.
Yeah.
If I didn't own this building or if my mortgage was more than that, this would not be viable.
So I have that flexibility.
Yeah.
So, so you're not subject to raising costs or.
Or like five grand a month for rent.
Yeah.
You know, like that.
In a space.
Right.
That would not be a sustainable number for me.
Um, plus somewhat.
You are building equity and wealth in that process.
Because I ever retire.
This is the only thing.
Right.
But I mean, I think when you think about like, you know, being able to access working capital
or things like that, you know, having ownership of the building is gives you some more viability
in the eyes of banks and things like that.
Right.
So yeah.
So this does.
And I, um, we bought it in 2010.
We were renting it at first.
Okay.
Um, but they were really wanting to get rid of the building.
So you're like, sure.
We'll take that over.
Yes.
We'll do that.
More.
But that's not fair for us.
Yeah.
And what, um, on average, what are, what's a three year old per week.
Right now.
Um, because I knew above, oh, a little bit and two and under two are like, right?
Okay.
That's your, your break.
Yeah.
Um, so full time and I don't have any art.
Like, I don't have like preschool make it to whatever they're just going for the morning.
All my kids need.
Yeah.
For the day.
So it's about two, any seven for a preschool.
Okay.
Um, infants are about three, 15 right now.
Um, which is there are a couple of centers in town that charge quite a bit more.
Um, but then the rest of us are about in that range.
Okay.
And do you, it's really a question of, of space and, I mean, if you have, if you have.
A waiting list of.
Sixteen months or 18 months.
Um, you could.
Raise your prices.
The last time I raised, and again, I price two people.
So then we're at this, you know.
Yeah.
Right.
And you have young families and you're trying to make it all work.
Yes.
And if they're paying, I'll just go around and do introductions one more time.
And then we'll start with that discussion.
Thanks everybody for being here.
I'm Heather Murray and I, um, I have been a resident of Wannakey for 20 years and owned
this chapter center for 20 years.
And I currently sit on the school board.
Is my other hat.
I feel like you have four other hats.
Okay.
We'll go with those too.
Hi, I'm Dana Schmuck and I'm with the Wisconsin Early Childhood Association and the Director of Engagement and Membership.
Good morning.
I'm Steve Summers.
I work for Wannakey School District on 25th year in schools here in Wannakey in 32 total.
Um, I'm Joe Dansein and I'm the current school board president.
I've been on the board 15 years.
I'm Chris Sunny also on the school board.
I'm just finishing up my first year.
I'm Carly Newton.
I'm also finishing up my first year on the school board and I have two girls who are in child care at another center in town.
Got it.
How old are they?
Well, so one of them is in second grade.
So she goes to after school care.
And the other one is four.
Got it.
Good morning.
Monica Kelsey Brown, Superintendent Wannakey Schools.
I will be completing my second year here.
Six total as the superintendent and 36 years of education.
Amazing.
Welcome.
Thank you.
Hi, I'm Chris Stillson.
I have been a child care provider for 25 years and then we titled and then I went to work with the medicine school district.
So I've been involved in family and child care, um, education and growth for a number of years and that's where my heart lies.
And so I wanted to be here to hear more and see more and hopefully some positive things coming down the road for our families and our children.
I hope so too.
Yeah.
So some of the conversation will also be around get kids ready from the school board perspective, but we've had to navigate that.
And I should say, preemptively, Wannakey has always done a very good job.
There's a community based 4K program.
Okay.
So all of the 4K is in the centers.
I currently don't have a contract with the school district only because I don't meet the enrollment requirements that I have since I'm smaller.
Got it.
And we're all here because child care is a complicated issue.
I mean, you've got families who need accessible and affordable child care.
And, you know, still have providers that need to keep their doors open and we are struggling at the moment.
And by the time you would be, I mean, legislatures have gabbled out all, you know, like, we're just sitting and still talking, but we're sitting here trying to figure out how to support everyone.
So I know your plan and I did make copies.
I don't know.
Yes.
So we can hand that out.
We just made sure I.
Thank you for doing that.
So can you just explain to us how both sides will be supported within your plan?
Yeah.
So first off, I'm Missy Hughes and thank you all for taking the time out of your day to come and chat with me and I really want to have an open roundtable dialogue with you all. But I'll just tell you a little bit where I've been and why child care is.
So important to me and understanding how that will really help Wisconsin grow overall.
So I'm the mother of three.
I had twins and then a third.
So I had three under the age of two.
And at the time that I had my three, I was practicing law in a private practice.
And if you know anything about that, it means that you're taking care, watching your time and six minute increments.
And then you have three kids and trying to figure that out.
So very quickly realize the challenges around how you try to work as both of tripping myself for working and then managing the three.
And we were living in Fort Collins at the time and had ended up having some young women who were studying early child care education at Colorado State University, calm, and be at the house taking care of my three.
That's kind of how we navigated that.
And it was really my first introduction to early childhood care providers and watching these young people really want to start their careers and devoting their careers to taking care of our youngest was really interesting and incredible for me to see.
And I was the youngest of seven.
My mom was also a working person. She was a doctor.
And so she would drop me off at the Y in town and I was terrible to her.
I would scream and cry and please don't make me go.
And then as soon as she left, I was fine.
But just all of these dynamics.
And so worked through my career, came and moved to Wisconsin and worked at Organic Valley.
And one of the amazing things of coming was everybody knew that I was a young mom with three little ones.
And at two o'clock, I was like, I gotta go, I gotta go pick up my kids.
And so the organization was very flexible and open to the fact that I was a working mom.
And so we got used to that and that was the mindset at Organic Valley.
We started a parental leave policy.
We really were trying to be as family friendly as we could be.
And then six years ago when Governor Evers asked me to be the lead of economic development for the state.
I came and I thought that living in Lefarge and Varroqua, we had a childcare desert and that was a singular problem for us.
Because we were super rural.
And then all of a sudden was confronted with what is happening statewide when it comes to childcare.
And hearing that especially young mothers were leaving the workforce because they didn't have childcare.
I literally said to the cabinet and to Governor Evers, my mother would be rolling in her grave right now.
If she knew that people are leaving the workforce, especially women are leaving the workforce and we haven't solved this problem.
And so Emily Onman and I, the secretary of DCF at that point, locked arms and said, how are we going to be thinking about this?
How can we start talking to businesses and start talking to legislators and legislators?
And because I was representing economic development, I was working with businesses and could carry that language forward.
To legislators, especially Republican legislators who really only talked business.
And as I'm talking with them, confronting the fact that most of them had wives at home who took care of their children and didn't understand.
Why can't you just stay home with your kids? Why do you need to go to work?
I was also able to say, look, I'm talking to businesses who are losing workforce.
And they are desperate for any kind of worker at this point.
And especially young women, they want in their workplaces.
And so we slowly were having those conversations, but as we know, the progress has been minimal and at times stepping backwards.
And certainly the pandemic really stepped backwards in many ways.
So I've been very much of a mind of where are the solutions?
How can we find the solutions around childcare?
And now, as running for governor, we dug back in and said, okay, what can we do?
And although I had some success talking to businesses, some success talking to legislators about making changes with our system,
the reality was, as you all know, we still have a very, very broken system.
And so digging into the proposals, it became clear to me that what we need is a massive investment in childcare.
And we need to fix this challenge that the state is facing.
We can't just continue to nibble around the edges and hope we're going to come up with an innovative solution that works in
or works in WannaKey, we need a statewide solution.
So my proposal is both on, to Heather's point, both on the side of reducing costs for families and having the state step in with investment on that side of the things.
But then also very aggressively working to bring in more educators to support those folks who are saying, this is like you all have done.
Saying, this is what I want to do with my career.
And making sure that we try to stem the tide and stem the tide and then get on the plus side of having educators so that Heather doesn't have an empty room that could have 30 more children in it.
So the essence of my proposal is that massive investment.
I'm very focused.
My platform is about building the economy in Wisconsin.
And the reality is that by investing in childcare, we will build the economy in Wisconsin.
The research shows that for every dollar you put into childcare turns into $8 back in the economy because you have parents who are able to get back to work.
You have parents that are able to get promotions that are able to be fully present at their work.
And then of course you have the incredible benefits of making sure that children are taking care of at the various early early stages throughout their educational career.
So it's both sides of making sure we're thinking about supporting providers, creating more educators, but then also immediately addressing costs with investment from the state.
And we will see the long term benefits of that as a state.
We'll see more people moving here because Wisconsin will be a leader when it comes to childcare.
We'll see families staying here because they know they can raise their families here.
And all of those benefits will unravel and come forward, but we have to make that investment first.
Thank you.
I think we need to look at the surplus first and take some of the surplus.
I know there's going to be conversations about what goes to public schools, what goes to childcare, but I think those need to be the two focuses of our investments from the get go to help support making this more affordable for families.
And then I think we have to continue to look at other opportunities around where do we work with our technical colleges with apprenticeships for the educators and making sure that we're supporting the educators coming through potentially with debt free schooling and pieces like that.
And then continuing to build the overall pie of our economy so that we have more resources to be able to support the investments that we want to make in childcare and in our public schools.
How do you know if there's a big plan for, like aside from, you know, finding more teachers than other people working with teachers, how to maintain the people who are already working in childcare because, like, I mean, I've been working here for about five years now.
And there are definitely places that I go because I do have a teaching degree where I probably could be making more money, right? But I love this work.
And so how do you entice people to stay in this when it's so hard to just get by with the funding that we're providing or not provided at this moment?
Yeah.
Like, aside from pulling in with new teachers, how do you plan on keeping the teachers that are here?
For sure. And I think there's two big pieces to that. One is making sure that you are receiving a livable wage and not just a livable wage but a sustainable livable wage.
And so where we need to invest in that, we bring in the investment to support providers in doing that.
The other piece I think that I consistently hear is around benefits and being able to provide benefits.
And there is an opportunity for Wisconsin to create a small business cooperative to be able to purchase health insurance.
So to be a part of a cooperative, which is I worked for a cooperative for 17 years, so I'm dedicated to that model.
And I understand that, you know, if you all decide, if small businesses decide to go to market together, they can have the strength to be able to purchase health care.
And so creating that opportunity and making it as easy as possible for small businesses like Heather's to invest in that.
Heather could have health insurance, but then also provide that to you.
So thanks for sharing your handout on unlike Wisconsin. Would you be able to comment on how to get kids ready?
And what our board has been navigating this year, which is the possibility of losing or competing with centers over four year olds,
which we've shared with the board could cost millions of dollars to want to keep taxpayers over the next five years.
How does get kids ready fit into your unlock Wisconsin plan?
So I'm going to admit that get kids ready was developed as I was leaving my role.
So I'd love to hear more about where it's causing the challenges because it's, I think it's, for me, learning about the childcare model over the past few years
and having to explain that to people, it'd be helpful for me to hear like directly like, where's the rub, what's happening with that?
Yeah. Go ahead.
So I was just going to say one of the, when we first learned about get kids ready, understanding that we have this issue across the state,
the unintended consequences on K-12 public education, it would be interesting to know if that was even part of the discussion when it came down to Pike.
I learned about get kids ready about August ish of last year through a Dane County superintendents meeting, where a superintendent said,
hey, has anyone heard about get kids ready?
And then subsequent conversations ensued around, well, are you a K-12 site that has your four year olds in your buildings?
Are you a district that has community sites, much like hours?
There's some hybrid districts who do have hybrid models, but ultimately when you look at, I think what I would say is it all boils down to our school funding formula
and the fact that it has been around for a very, very long time.
I would encourage you, if you went to think about, can we bring a task force together to really think about Wisconsin's school funding formula
and look at all of those moving cards? Equalization A, now we have get kids ready.
The board has navigated several iterations of what we think 4K may look like here on Wanna Key and, you know,
we're getting ready in our school years, March already preparing for 26, 27.
And so that's special education funding. All of those pieces are moving cards to what we have to think about in K-12 public education.
And so ensuring that K-12 educators are at the table, and maybe they were, I don't know, but ensuring that someone is at the table to engage in those conversations
from the respective districts who have, we're a community.
I came from a district where 4K was in the building.
We have districts who are pulling 4Kers from their community sites and bringing them into their buildings.
For headcount really is what it all boils down to.
And so what does that mean though, for the community sites, right?
And is that 4 get kids ready? The headcount 4, okay.
Yes, 4 get kids ready. So there are a lot of moving parts of this space.
And I would just encourage you to think about making sure the proper or the appropriate individuals are at the table to really think through, you know, what this might mean as we now navigate the unintended consequences of get kids ready.
So, and I do think that, again, when you've got good relationships with the providers and your 4K is within the community sites, but it's still the school district.
It's just, it's hard. It's been really messy.
And now I didn't advocate for that when I went through. This wasn't part of what I, when the budget was going through.
I do think it was something that they decided to put in there because I don't think to 4K sites is good for parents. It's not easy on providers.
It's not, you know, and it wasn't intended for places who maybe don't have a 4K program, some districts, you know, so providers can get some extra cash flow.
Because again, they were afraid to give investments directly to providers.
Yeah, you know, to Dr. Brown since he's playing, it's causing significant issues, especially around our budgets.
And then again, having to go back to taxpayers through referendum, you know, and it really, it's not just get kids ready, but it's also the state equalization aid formula.
Like Dr. Brown said, and now this is compounding it by having significant impacts to our budgets and the millions and it's resulting us to have to perpetuate this referendum cycle.
That never ended because we're not adequately getting funded and now we're looking at adults of millions of dollars that then has to fall back in the local tax period to the lack of public education funding.
So can you just help me understand that how it's having the unintended consequences of costing your school district millions of dollars?
So providers get to choose.
Happy to choose.
Have to choose between get kids ready, which is the county or the state program, the Department of Children and Families.
Or if your district has a 4K program, you have to choose between those two.
You can't do both.
So if a provider, one of the providers in town shows not to have a contract with the school district,
which I also have to say the school district lifted up the reimbursement rate to 4 providers to get more pursuit.
They take those 40 kids and educate them within the center, but they're not enrolled in the school district.
So the school district doesn't get them for account.
So speaking from the parent perspective, like my daughter, my younger daughter will be in 4K next year and has gone to a center since she was 12 weeks old.
That opted out of working with the school district next year.
And from the child care providers perspective, I get it.
You got to go where the opportunity is to have the most support so that you can continue to have infants.
Like when I back up a few years for a second here, when I got pregnant with my younger daughter, I told my husband and then I told our child care center.
Because we like needed to be on that list.
And every one of my daughter's classmates either had an older sibling already at the center or had a mom who was teaching there.
Like there weren't any firstborn children who were able to get an infant's box because of how the priority goes and the spots are all filled.
So she's been there since she was a baby. We want to keep going there.
But as a school board member, I know that if we keep her there all day to do her 4K, then I'm hurting the school district.
And like how can I, as a school board member, do that?
Like how can I, as a community member, do that?
Like that's, you know, essentially making a decision to be okay having to raise my own property taxes again.
And it's just this whole like forcing child care providers to choose and forcing the school district to be put in a position of competing.
Like it's clear that we're not properly funding either.
We're setting them both up to fail and that is bad for Wisconsin communities.
It's bad for families. It's bad for children.
And a little more context.
We could was also advocating for a significant investment into child care.
Sure.
But I think part of the reason maybe 4K was the 4 year olds were addressed is in child care.
4K, the ratios are much different, obviously for 4 year olds than for infants.
So when 4K was brought into school districts that had the unintended consequences of hurting community sites.
They depend on those 4 year olds to offset the cost of infants.
So infant rooms typically operate at a loss because it's a 1 to 4 ratio.
So I think that's kind of where it came from.
And then obviously it trickled down on others unintended consequences of child care programs in communities,
which not all communities have great relationships with this community district that work well with them.
So I think that because Wisconsin, like you stated, like the child care landscape is so different from community to community.
So it's hard to have a program like this completely fix either side of it.
I think I'm going to go back to Monica, your point about the task force and coming together for a new conversation about how these things are funded.
So I worked for Organic Valley for 17 years.
I did economic development like my focus has not been on public school funding and child care funding.
Except to say like this is a problem that we need to solve.
And coming in with a fresh perspective, my observation is this has been a 20, 25 year series of compromises
and tweaks that have resulted in a system that has moved us away from being the education state,
moved us away from being family friendly.
And it perhaps is really time for a major reset.
And as you think about the potential of having a dramatically different legislature and hopefully still a democratic governor dedicated to education and child care,
like we have an opportunity to say, okay, the kind of duct tape and veiling wire system that we have set up here is no longer working
and it's time for a full innovation on this.
And so having kind of a fresh perspective is both idealistic and perhaps naive on some of these things,
but I think that there's an opportunity for a real new conversation on this.
You know, as I talked with business leaders about, you know, well, you have a child care desert in your community,
you know, as we looked at it even at Organic Valley, it was always this, well, you know, the child care model just doesn't work
and then understanding that impact of 4K and how that, you know, and talking to CEOs, I'm like, so you took your revenue producer away.
And now you're, you know, you're stuck with the products that you're just not making revenue on and that's, and CEOs would be like, well, that doesn't make any sense.
I'm like, right.
So that's rare.
And, you know, and then I think public school funding also is, you know, well, you have to, you know, you have to provide the special needs and the special education.
You, and you're not getting paid for that fully.
And then...
Public promise is never worth it.
Right.
But promise is never there.
And, you know, at the end of the year, you have to move everything around and figure out how you're going to pay for things.
And then, you know, the things that we often value, arts and music, sports are the things that are taken away.
And that's, you know, the choices that the public schools have to make.
Or you have to go to a referendum.
And as I, that's the one thing I will say, as I travel around and talk to communities, communities that are under constant referendum, that aren't passing their referendums, are communities that are spiraling downward.
And communities that have figured it out.
And then...
People districts have to potentially looking at...
Can we no longer fiscally be able to leverage community sites.
So then, taking all that 4K find a way.
Because now to be good stewards of Taxpayers and help support education, we have to bring it in helps.
And then...
What is that going to do to those centers that now no longer have any 4K revenue.
And that may close doors.
mindful you know Jones been very public about our great relationship with our
community centers but there comes a point where it's no longer sustainable you
know and I think two things to revenue point to take forward is like Dr. Brown
was alluded to you know even with special education reimbursement we're not
getting what the legislator promised right which is significantly impacting
us again and it's a death by a thousand paper cuts you know and our concern is
now going back again for another referendum in November that eventually
the community with the economy that's going on globally and locally is just
gonna say enough right and that's our concern and then it's gonna put us in a
very typical position well in the added piece I would put on top of that not
that we want to put anything on top of it is people opening their property tax
bills and then holding the public schools accountable or to blame for you
know and that's another place where I think we like let's how do how can we
tear that apart how can we stop that conversation especially when you have
an aging demographic overall the whole state and folks who are you know on
fixed incomes or who are at the point in their lives when they're like well I you
know why do I have to continue to support the schools I of course I think most
of us disagree with that mindset but that mindset is there and so how do you
know they they're forced to because they don't have such a limited income
right and then when those tax bills come in their life taking you know another
20% of that limited income you can't blame them for that reaction but you know
what you said is our district this year actually found revenue from a capital
referendum and you know savings in refinancing to lessen the burden to our
taxpayers but I'm sure few taxpayers know what we did as a district you know
we could have easily spent that money on a new road for higher salaries for our
teachers or other needs we have but we felt compelled to keep those those
taxes at a minimum but it's not even noticed I believe by many people and then
that funding I mean the lack of inflation keep up that we have been
experiencing for 15 years is I mean we have an extremely talented financial
advisor here who has done miracles with the small amount of funding you know
that is be you know we've gone to referendum I think every other year one
time yeah one time it was during rep or during the pandemic we had to go again
the following year I mean our community has been incredibly generous but to
what to what and there are a lot of communities that like don't they don't
have any more places to pull a bit of money from just above them and from the
back closet and have needed to bring in a house and are like killing childcare in
their community like making that problem even worse because they just there are
no other options left can I ask your perspective on the surplus so right now
there's discussions about special ed there's discussions about a rebate going
back to folks there's discussions on the school property tax levy credit
equalization aid so do you have a perspective on the conversation that's
going on right now do you think something's going to happen especially to our
board members who are hearing about the one million dollar difference with
special ed between 42% this year 45% next year and what's actually being paid
out do you have a perspective to share on that conversation I have not been
tracking as much what the current conversation is just by nature of the
beast that I'm involved in right now but you know what I will say is I think
that the property tax rebate conversation is the wrong conversation and you know
I know they you know it might be that the governor agrees to that but I would
I would disagree in that I believe that Wisconsinites pay their property taxes
with the intention that those property taxes will get reinvested in the state
not that they will sit in Madison for six years that I've been in my position
as having a surplus every year and having that not be reinvested and then
oh here we're going to give you a check for you know arguably probably a very
minimal amount and that that you know as Wisconsinites it's a we believe that
investing in our schools and our infrastructure is critically important
and why hasn't that happened and that's why I think you see you know the changes
that we're going to see in the legislature because people are tired of
where the the current dynamic has taken us and I you know the the conversation
around equalization and I'd like good Lord you know I mean it's more of the
tweaking and the duct taping than really setting out the right right and and why
not say like we're you know put it out there and agree and I think that's what's
going to start to happen with our current elections is we agree we want to
support our public schools full stop what does that mean let's make it happen
and be dedicated to that and I'm adding childcare into that because I believe
it's zero to 12 and we have to be educating all along there
so you're sorry in your plan you talked about massive investment where how do
target that investment where's the money going so it would be going first to
support in the first year bringing affordability to families so that there's
a 7% cap on the money to families money to providers it was it's continuing the
system Wisconsin shares that is in there that is currently in working and
raising the level of folks who are who are able to access that to the median
income in Wisconsin first year so the first year you're at 7% cap if you fall
below that income level the second year I'm gonna raise that income level so
that more families are able to have that 7% cap there so that's where the piece
of investment goes does that make sense it's confusing and let's go on shares
this is the current program that people who get their child care rate from the
state right subsidies from the state no it stays with the system they have now
it goes on a card that gets to be loaded and then they pay to a certain system
and then the money gets transferred over yeah now it so now it's
200 currently as we sit here today it's 200% of the federal poverty level which
is about 64,000 I would raise that in the first year to 85,000 and then the
second year is the significant jump to a family of making about a hundred and
ninety thousand dollars a year which is still you know a significant when you're
when you're making that even though that sounds like plenty of money when
you're paying a second mortgage it's it's very difficult so that will ease
some of the affordability challenges but then at the same time you know some
supply and demand you have to be also being sure to think about how can we
make sure that the slots that are existing like Heathers are able to be
utilized for the families because even if you have more affordability if there's
no access it doesn't do you any good
there's a couple other questions for you
so to relate it or not do you have a perspective on the annuitants bill
or I think it's going to be assembly right now so the gist of it is if you retire
from the Wisconsin retirement system and you choose to want to come back to
a K-12 this is safe for example I'm not going anywhere
they work that more tired and you know I took a back year and just didn't work
every year but they decided that I want to go back and be a superintendent or
just a teacher I love teaching I love I love what I do it seems that seems like
a bill that's a no-brainer in terms of understanding that our educator pipeline
is decreasing over time and it's not just teachers it's it just it runs the
gamut we can speak to that from our principal pool that we just had we're
very fortunate here and that we have a high teacher retention rate however we're
all you know no one gets any younger over the year and so just wanted to know if
you had a perspective on the annuitants bill and then alongside that I think if
we can create the space we have very talented educators in every single
school district including our paraprofessionals and I really believe if we
can create a space for them to be able to acquire their license while they're
working sometimes they have children as well right so they're navigating the
childcare space as well if we can create the space to figure out a very creative
way for them to be able to acquire their licenses while they're in our
buildings working doing this great work I think that would be awesome and I'll
just share with you probably two years ago I wrote a bill for that and went to
Madison to testify around making that happen for paraprofessionals and then it
well it made it to governor even this deficit he didn't sign it but the point
is I just think in K-12 education we have to be really really creative around
how we're going to sustain many of the moving parts in our spaces to to maintain
all of the great work that's happening with our students and so we need our
adults we need our paraprofessionals we need our teachers but how do we get more
people in the space to and retain them so that we can place that pipeline on a
virtual trajectory again well I think both of those those tracks that you're
talking about are tracks that incentivize people to come into education so why
wouldn't we to your point have those types of opportunities it's an it's a
no-brainer on the a new a new it's a new attempt funny word you know that seems
like a no-brainer I can imagine that there were concerns around licensing
requirements and making sure that we were tracking that perhaps resulted in
the the no signature for that but I agree that finding creative ways to help
people move through the system is always beneficial and we should always be
looking at those thank you why wouldn't you want people if they want to come
back into the education system why wouldn't you support that
no so I like to dream about the trifecta if say the legislature doesn't flip or
whatever how do you go in who's been trying for a while how do you go in and
communicate that childcare is important to those who might not think that well
I'll say my experience so as I mentioned you know I I worked with Emily for for
many years talking about childcare as economic development and I would sit in
my board meetings and I would say childcare is economic development childcare is
economic development and Dan Fine who's a senator from Fond du Lac what sat on
my board and voted down my budgets and was the biggest curmudgeon in the entire
world but finally he was like okay I've hadn't had Missy and enough people
talk to me about how childcare is economic development he introduced a
bill to change the business tax credit that WEDC is responsible for and at the
hearing introducing his amendment that would enable businesses to invest in
childcare he said the words childcare is economic development so that was my
win in that world but it is it takes the work of gaining the trust of the
legislators and you know especially for the Republican legislators speaking
their language around business that it is that is going to help the economy that
is an investment back into the economy and finding those ways to have
conversations and you know I think a lot of the legislators although they you
know didn't experience this raising their own children are seeing their
children make decisions not to have children or you know having to make
decisions between career and that they're starting to understand like oh this is
you know a real thing not not a problem you know the departure of people like
Robin Voss is going to help this conversation Robin Voss said to me
will the families just stop taking trips to Europe and having cable TV they'd be
able to afford childcare
that conversation you know like some of that old school thinking just needs to
leave the building but you know I think that that you can continue to try to
create those relationships some of it is that those some folks need to just move
on but I think you know by gaining trust and having people realize that you are
coming from a place that is meant to grow Wisconsin and is meant to be
successful for Wisconsin they can start to the Dan finds of the world's
role but that's it's a big shift in mindset because you hear all of these
legislators talking about like oh we have declining enrollment in our school
districts we need to be talking about how to close more schools consolidate more
districts like maybe enrollment is declining because like we're not a
family-friendly place to be like hi it's such a big shift in mindset like
I don't even know what my question is
I'll give you the example that I that I would use so so we were we were
fortunate enough of the family we took a trip to Stockholm and all walking through
Stockholm I'd go into stores and in walking in the doorways there were two
little pieces of metal those little pieces of metal and I finally asked one
of the store owners and they were like oh that's for strollers and I was like
that's what family-friendly looks like it is you know at the very littlest
level helping someone get a stroller into a store and you have to have that
shift in mindset you have to have that we are family-friendly we are pro
education what and you know we know that we have not had that mindset for many
years at this point and so having a leader having a governor having a woman
governor all these opportunities to continue and you know of course
governor Evers was so dedicated to education and but you know he was just
in an impossible situation we are not going to be in that impossible situation
going forward whether we have a trifecta or not it is going to be better and so
how do we take advantage of that and you know my thing is how do we do it in a
really sustainable responsible way you know you could you could come in and
and burn everything down the next team is going to come in and you know we'll
just end up in this zigging and zagging how do we get to a place where we are
like no we have all agreed that this is the way we're moving forward do is there
any data out there that indicates how much of family on average what percentage
of their income goes to childcare you're saying that
25 yeah I was just here I think it's 25% I don't know if it's yeah 25% yeah there
was just in fact as I was scrolling the New York Times yesterday there was an
article where you can look up in your community how much childcare is for and
I just know that you know what flashed up for me was $17,800 so that must be in
yeah we have a calculator on our website where you can go ahead and enter your
county and you can see what portion of childcare per month goes to or you can
see what the actual cost of childcare and then what your income is after that
and most states are or most counties are in the red so in the 7% that's being
funded you provide 7% or the family is locked that page they don't have to pay
more than 7% that's right but then the state comes in and pays Heather the
rest of what she needs to survive yes
the state would pay the family who has it on their car and then all they would
yes yeah right and with I also have a statement that I don't know if is a
question but with get kids are sorry with bridge payments ending in June survey
was just released I think by Wisconsin child care association administrative
association most programs are going to have to significantly increase their
tuition and then a lot of programs are faced with closing and programs are
steadily closing as they're seeing this end in sight yeah how there can you
but what can you say what those so everybody can hear like what that
payment is that bridge payment is per month what are you so it gets your by
child so somebody who has a larger center would get more money and then also for
staff you have to declare full and part-time staff and I'm not sure how they
divide that up but it started on a more significantly and then the money has
decreased every reverse not this budget cycle but the last budget cycle came up
with everybody empty their pockets I like to say he got all the money together to
give them to go through until this last budget cycle and then by June it
was from like July to June was the last payments now that's been the
significantly less than we've gotten previously so so what will happen in
July when those payments end for a typical provider or for you Heather I
will raise my rates but and I've already raised my
rates 12 percent since the decrease but the average it'll be about $200 a
month that I will need per child to make up for that difference so I need to
and again I have more flexibility than explaining downstairs I own this
building so I have a little bit more leeway with financially where things go
because I don't have a significant mortgage so I can figure things out that
way but yeah it's gonna be and not that I'm it's just another thing that we
have to figure out and it's been I have to say since 2020 there are really good
things that have happened for child care I think because people have realized
that we're significant pressure to the community and to parents to work in that
kind of thing but there's been a lot of not great things like doing without
money you know even going back to legislature being told that is telling
Lucas that I sat there meeting months where a legislator said we just need to
tell these women how to run their businesses yes and then the bill get
this figured out so like not only are we dealing with but all of that
significant amount of stuff when we were trying to make sure that people
understand what we do is important so again the money that'll have to get
figured out and that's the reality that we're living in right now when
realistically like tuition levels if we were really paying child care providers
what they're worth like tuition would be so much more which isn't figuring out
how that gap is yeah there's like so many different parts to it yeah like if I
could I would give my kids teachers like all my money but yeah providers and
teachers are subsidizing their own wages so that it doesn't and parent
tuition continues to increase so what the phrase is I think like teachers can't
make less and parents can't make more and that's where we're stopped right yeah
and it's a public good that we all need to acknowledge and that's why the state
needs to step in in this moment and invest in this so that we can not expect
this untenable system to to work and I just I want to I want to put a pin in
the point that you made so missies out having conversations with CEOs about
child care and how you know they need to can you step in can you help can you
help us innovate around child care and the the ease with which it's well it's
just a poorly run business and of course because it's run by women like all of
that is wrapped in what is what is this being experience which is why I did the
work to sit down be like okay let me explain the model to you you know first
of all you have these ratios and then they take away the your place where you're
making revenue and they're like oh how could you possibly run that business
exactly you get really creative yeah yeah but I think you know with it with the
the change that we're going to see and the payments going away in July there
are providers who I've talked to who are just you know they are they are
putting go fund meets together to get toilet paper for their you know like it
is they're at there with their wit's end and they don't have any kind of
flexibility to be able to endure what's gonna happen in July do you have an
estimate on what's gonna happen around providers closing or well I have the
survey results from WCCA and I think it was about 10% it was a smaller
survey so maybe of 80 maybe I shouldn't be close because I just read the survey
this morning I won't factor yeah we've continued to see providers start to close
once it there was not a continuance of childcare counts in the last budget and
whatever so we got the bridge payments but because of the significant decrease
we've seen programs decide that they've had to close like at a pretty steady
rate so and do you have this just like closure I was gonna look that up for
even like the last year how many because if providers are always not always but
significantly have been since the payments have gone down yeah providers
have closed up I don't but I think yeah yeah but I think from from WCCA we have
the statistic that 25% of teachers and educators are leaving early childcare
on a yearly basis so the whole is just getting deeper every year
what's your perspective on so we have to look into your first of all so get kids
ready continuing so this was a one-year offer that we're aware of what do you
write back on it continuing beyond 2627 that's first question and then if you
could share some perspective on the 325 per people 400 year deal if you can
provide some insight into that that will be I mean I understand it to a certain
extent in that let's make sure public schools get money however as I relates
to CPI and keeping up with inflation and just you know some forward thinking
around that it doesn't really help us to give them that everything else is
increasing so what are your thoughts on both of those well I think on get kids
ready I haven't heard and and again you know colleagues with Jeff Pertle and
Governor Evers of course but I haven't heard people saying this is a win and
this is working really well it's just that's not what I'm hearing and so I
assuming that you all are giving that feedback back to DCF and to Governor
Evers who are I believe typically quite responsive and you know that feedback
will carry forward into the next administration I'm sure so TBD you know
whether that's a thing on the on the 400 year veto yes gets funding but to me
that also feels like a duct tape unveiling wire solution and you know the
creativity that had to go into that is much maligned and you know I think it
goes back to that conversation of what do we need to do in order to fully
fund our public schools and support our public school teachers and have that
system working and not subject to the robbing Peter to pay Paul and all of
those that happens on a you know to your basis like what the systems are
going through with the constant budgeting and the constant hanging over your
head of whether childcare counts is going to go away or what is you know
because we haven't had a strategy that says we're gonna we are going to do
this and we're gonna do it successfully I'm looking at other states who may
our school funding formula it's just not a good one in 2026 but there are
other states out there where we visited their school funding formula they would
revisit it and create it a way you know to fund their case well public school
in the fashion that allows us to be able to do our best work for children yeah
yep I think Pennsylvania has done some interesting things
around that I think it you know at WEDC we would look to who's doing this
well right who's doing you know an incentive well or who's doing something
well and learn from them I think of that when I think about legalization of
marijuana if we're gonna do that let's learn from the other states and figure
out how to do that well and figure out you know take the good lessons and the
bad lessons and you know we can do that again and again we don't have to invent
the wheel necessarily so would you be open to something like what Vermont did
implementing payroll tax to pay for universal child care I think that and
and I had a conversation with Ruth Ruth Smith from Wiga about about I thought
it was Virginia but that might have been the confusion because she said Virginia
and we went and looked at it and couldn't find it so it must have been Vermont
the key thing for me for that is making sure that we have the system in place
to put in educators and you know just to come out and say like okay we're gonna
have it paid for but we still need the educators we still need that side of
the the puzzle fixed so you know if you if we could get to the place where we
have providers coming where you know more the the what's a right word to use
for provider early educators early educators if we have the early
educators coming in then and we need to fix the how we pay for it model then
that's certainly something that should be on the table and I think a payroll
tax makes sense and it and it helps to recognize that this is a public good
that needs to be taken care of but I want to make sure that we have the the
early childcare educators piece figured out also that's why I don't think we
can just snap our fingers and have universal child yeah yeah rebuild the
holy gravey heads exactly right well put as I got my undergraduate in early
childhood education birth through third grade regular and special ed and taught
in classrooms birth to four years old and I absolutely loved it and I eventually
had my own children can afford to pay for care and I was taking care of other
babies a baby who actually had a birthday two days before my daughter and I would
hold that baby all day while I sent my baby to a better care provider who I was
very fortunate was amazing but I really appreciate the fact that we're looking
at educators well-being and pay because people who leave this field don't want
to yeah they want to be here but they also deserve to not only make like you
said a livable wage but to enjoy things in life too right like they should have to
even if it's a trip to Europe they should still be able to do that and and do what
they love not only because it's important for the economy but it's important for
our young children yeah well it was so impactful for me in talking with Ruth
that this is not a recruitment problem that there are lots of folks who want to
go into this work and we just need to make it sustainable and viable for them
and throughout it's so interesting throughout the course of their their
career they're going to have children they're going to you know also experience
this dual life so yeah yeah and I do sense grace sitting here great is currently in
an apprenticeship program through DWD that was free for early educators and
Graham had already worked for me for three years but now I found that only
because I was digging and like had to you know it wasn't like it was played
on my plate yeah for that but I don't know if you want to speak to what you're
learning or why it's important different than like the course limits courses
yeah sure so yeah I started the apprenticeship program in August and I've
been at our house for five and a half years now and I'm in my second semester
and like the first semester a huge part of it was just learning about advocacy
and we sent letters to representatives and I found it like when I said last
time just like really disheartening that and kind of worrying that like a huge
part of our program is learning about advocacy for our work and that that's
like a huge part of what we have to do and I feel like a lot of other college
fields you don't have to you know do that but yeah it's been really helpful
it's already been really impactful for my work and I've been sharing things
with Heather that she's done been sharing with other employees yeah and
I'm really grateful for the apprenticeship program and I know it's gonna be
ending in 2027 or at least the funding for it
right yeah so that I kind of that sucks but I got in right at the perfect
time yeah and then I'm also getting or I'm on the waitlist for the teach
scholarship which would then potentially pay for like 90% of finishing my
associate's degree so the apprenticeship program gets me to halfway to my
associate's degree then with the teach scholarship I would get the rest there
are other 30 credits and I'd only have to pay about 5% compared to instead of a
100% of funding for college and that's you know a game changer because there's
no way I could afford to go to college without those two programs and I feel
like those programs are incredibly beneficial not only to educators but
providers and most especially like children because like they deserve high
quality early education you know so and like yeah like your brain grows 90% in
the first five years of life and we need to take advantage of that time and
really set a good strong foundation for the rest of their lives so they can
reach their full potential and be successful and there's currently a
waitlist for the teach scholarship yeah through CCTBG federal funds okay that we
know how long the waitlist is there time I don't have yeah yeah cuz there's like
so many different programs within the teach scholarship to apply for so I'm
sure for the different programs there's different waitlist so and that has so
far survived federal cuts yes although we had saw a decrease last yeah budget
okay well glad you're able to take advantage of those programs and yes it
is it's wild to think that you're being taught how to advocate for the
industry that you're going into like a little government affairs but it's
great because I do it online and so I don't have to travel anywhere to do it
and then I can also still work my 40 hours a week and do that so like it's a
lot on my plate but it's been really beneficial yeah great and you get a
little practice by sitting here of course I think that the last thing that
you said Gray is something that I even you know in my in my thinking about the
economy and thinking about how do we make this work lose sight of which is how
important it is for the kiddos to have quality experiences from that age and
how that again is going to support us over the long run it's going to support
the public schools and as you provide education it will keep kids out of the
criminal criminal justice system it will there's so many benefits to being very
cognizant about that first period yes definitely yeah and I would say the
prenatal part also oh yeah I'm not loud so I think it's a great program it's
just to that there's not more of yeah yeah yeah and I think we in Wisconsin we
have an incredible apprenticeship program that is our one of our best kept
secrets and I don't know what Wannicki does I've seen a number of school
districts that are amazing at helping their kids access a friendship programs
for the youth apprenticeship programs where are you good but one of them one of
the challenges that I've seen is that it often relies on a champion like one
person who's a champion before right and then that person you know if something
if they move to a different district or they you know some they have a life
event or something it's hard to have that continuity and I think that's a
place where the apprenticeship program could really be beefed up to make that
more systematic and not just rely on that one champion I mean you have to have a
person creating those relationships and things like that but how do you build a
little bit of an inch infrastructure around them to help them yeah I had a
conversation with the head of economic development for Arizona and she said
where you know we're standing up in a apprenticeship program or we're starting
that it's really important we're so excited we have a hundred people in it
this year whole state I was like that's cool we have 16,000
so it's important especially as colleges getting more expensive and it's not
affordable and you know even what we're talking about some of our capital
referendums again you know how are we increasing these facilities in our
schools for culinary arts for instance the other non-collegiate pathways that
student would take yeah comes out of investments yeah yeah we were able
through a workforce innovation grant to support soft prairies investment in
ag apprentice manufacturing apprentice and nursing to be able to have different
facilities to support that it's pretty great but to have a conversation that I
had so I my day job I work with a coalition of labor unions and one of the
biggest concerns that they have is that childcare doesn't match up with the
hours that folks actually for sure work you know to thoughts about how how to
incentivize and having more childcare providers have like early morning hours
late night hours and how do we actually build a childcare system that works for
the whole economy yeah first we attack it is layer upon layer but I think that's
a place where we can also really start to engage the businesses because that's a
particular need for the businesses to be able to have their second and third
shift there's a childcare provider supported by errands and company in
brilliant Wisconsin Dan errands is the CEO and and he saw this problem in his
community and so errands started a childcare facility they are I think they
at least provide second shift they don't have enough workforce for third shift
so they just focus on second shift so innovation there but also they provide
childcare for grandchildren of their workers so if you're working in that
factory and you have grandchildren that need childcare you can have them go to
that childcare facility and as a result he has they have families moving to
brilliant which is this teeny little town up north and attracting you know
attracting workforce so then of potentially they get that third shift
going and can have that but that's a place I think where you do have to
start engaging the businesses and I think there's also places where we can add
some flexibility you know one of the hindrances that I understand is there's
a 12-hour restriction on you can't be at a childcare facility for more than 12
hours but if you have a 12-hour shift then that makes it very hard to you know
be able to drop your child off and then work your whole shift and so there might
be some opportunities for innovation there
all those layers yeah there's all those layers I just want to say that
that's why you need the North Star that's why you need that the saying you
know okay we are all rowing the boat in this in this direction and as governor
you know bringing in the executive team the cabinet that would help me we set
those North Stars and say okay now what can you do to support that transportation
what can you do to support this idea that we're going to be the education
state you know any other I can't even think of any other agencies at this point
but WEDC what are you going to do you know how can you bring your resources to
bear because there's resources across the state enterprise that can be brought to
help solving this problem and but you have to have that ability to kind of
lock arms and say this is the way we're gonna go and I do hope because if you
think kind of get kids ready was there wasn't anybody from child care at the
table so I do hope when some of this comes around that you do include
providers especially people who own and operate their own child care centers
because I could have told them that 2-4a programs was not a good idea right if
I'm sitting at the table yeah but a lot of times yeah my my favorite thing to do
throughout my career is to bring everyone to the table and then figure out the
path forward and you know I learned very early that compromise means everybody
doesn't get what they want but that means everybody gets something that they
want and so you know what is that that process but you have to be willing to
understand this is what Joan needs this is what Chris needs this is what Heather
needs okay I understand your needs it's not a battle it's a everybody throws
their needs into the middle of the table and then you start to talk about
how do you make a system that works
thank you operations yeah thank you everybody for the time I really appreciate it
thank you we'll grab a picture quick okay
thanks so much thank you
well give me an update on you can talk to me okay so how are you feeling a few
months in long way to go yeah you know it is this is the first time I've run for
office so I'm excited to learn what Wisconsinites are really thinking about
what they're concerned about with the future we are at a huge inflection point
for the state and it's critical that we make sure we have the leadership we
need to start really moving the state forward and creating the momentum that
we need so obviously the last poll came out most voters in the Democratic side
are still undecided still figuring things out what's that line for you when
you're trying to talk to people to say to hold on be patient and people aren't
tuning in yet but also to say you know it's also urgent to start getting that
name recognition going yeah well when I look at the poll and what we learned
from that poll the most important thing to me is that voters are incredibly
concerned about the economy and their primary focus is on finding leadership
that can help build a strong economy and that's what my platform is that's what
I'm presenting with you know Wisconsin and really moving the economy forward
and and we are want to make things affordable for folks we want housing
that's affordable child care that's affordable this is critically important
that's what voters are looking for right now we're at that time where we've got
the Supreme Court election overlapping with all the gubernatorial candidates
out and about do you see kind of a trend where you guys are all on the same page
when it comes to the first Taylor in the election and people tuning into both at
the same time well we saw in the poll that you know we still need to really
engage folks on the Supreme Court election but I believe that Chris is
doing a fantastic job of getting out there and talking with folks and making
sure that everyone is paying attention to that April election and you know once
that done then it'll be a full sprint to August in terms of that that momentum
do you think maybe people that are getting involved now or wake up for that
election can keep them engaged from April to August in November you know I'm
seeing a ton of engagement around the state when I go to Brown County or
Marinette folks are showing up for meetings they want to understand where
the candidates are who the candidates are and I'm excited about that engagement I
think people are really realizing that elections matter and our leadership
matters and so making sure that we have somebody that keeps the seat the governor
seat blue in November is the most important thing we need to be focused on
thanks for your time really appreciate you letting us come in today yeah well
thank you so much for making the