LETTER: Child care crisis threatens Wisconsin families and the state economy

Wisconsin’s early care and education industry is nearing crisis point. Sadly, we’ve been hurtling down this path long before the pandemic struck. We need a rapid course correction, or we stand to lose about a third of our child care providers, which could spell trouble for our entire economy.

Unlike our public education system, child care operates in a private pay economy. These are small businesses that contract directly with families for services. Some families are eligible for a small subsidy based on their income level.     

Finding care, regardless of household income, is made more challenging by a lack of availability. Over half of Wisconsin children live in a child care desert; that figure shoots up to 80% in rural areas.

In Wisconsin, the majority if early educators have advanced degrees, and all are required to continue their learning. Our children are fortunate to learn from such a skilled workforce. Yet the average wage for a child care educator ranges from $10 to $13 dollars per hour. It should be no surprise that this workforce has a turnover rate of 40%.

Recently, I spent some time talking business with a family-based, in-home child care provider. She normally cares for eight kids, her licensed capacity. She sets her rates so that she can cover the cost of food, cleaning supplies, toys, rent and utilities. She uses whatever is left to pay herself. When the pandemic forced many families to stop sending their kids to care, her paycheck evaporated.

She knows her families can’t afford to pay more – child care is on average more costly than college. She’s doing whatever she can to make sure the kids in her care get what they need, including cutting her wages. If this scenario keeps up much longer, she will close her business, leaving a small community without eight child care slots that were there just this week.

We were working on these issues before Covid-19, but the pandemic has the industry at a crisis point. The state set aside $51 million to help stabilize the industry and the Department of Children and Families got some funding to 2,712 providers, but it is not enough to change the course we are on.

Here are a few ideas that deserve our attention. We need to supply our child care providers and educators with personal protective equipment. We need to commit to additional government funding for the child care sector. We need business and communities to explore creative solutions like pre-paying for child care for employees, providing start-up funds and loans for the child care industry, and finding ways to connect the unemployed with careers in child care.

The author is secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families.