Childcare After the Budget
I have owned and operated a childcare center for the past 19 years. So not only do I make sure staff and the bills are paid, I clean toilets, clean windows and change diapers. I have devoted my life to educating and caring for young children. I didn’t go into this profession to line my pockets with money. But everyone in my field deserves a living wage and to know they are supported in their community. My goal is to always create a safe and nurturing learning environment for the children that enter my center. My belief is that parents who enter have decided to partner with us to make sure their children are getting the best possible environment to learn and grow.
To create this quality environment for children has become increasingly hard over the years for owners in Wisconsin. It’s because parents can’t pay more and providers need to keep qualified staff and pay them a liveable wage. For my center, wages for employees went up by $4 dollars an hour and that is what was needed to keep up with the other businesses in my community.
I started advocating and organizing around childcare and early education right before the 23-25 budget cycle because I felt like people were starting to listen and not ask me anymore why I needed a teaching license to wipe noses. Parents were appreciative that my doors were open and we were providing a quality space for their children to learn. But during that budget cycle there were some pretty big hurdles early educators needed to jump over to get our legislators to listen at the Capitol.
During previous budget cycles, I sat through a lot of hearings and meetings where our elected officials got to decide what was best for my profession. I heard legislators tell providers “all you want is money” or legislators talk about “how these women just need to learn how to run their business’. Or my favorite, “We don’t need childcare. Women should just stay home and take care of their children.” It wasn’t easy in the 23-25 budget cycle to get anyone at the Capitol to take providers seriously. And guess what? In that budget cycle childcare was not put in the Wisconsin budget. Wisconsin would spend a few more years as one of six states that did not put any state money into childcare or early education. The Governor did find a way to support providers with direct payments until the next budget cycle. This didn’t solve anything but helped keep many providers’ doors open throughout the state.
Even though we weren’t in the budget, advocates and early educators kept coming to hearings and meetings and continued to let people know we weren’t going anywhere as a profession. Providers continued to talk about what we do on a daily basis and how that is important to our communities and the state.
Providers across this state held Community Conversations and Day Without Childcare Events. Many elected officials from both sides of the aisle received tours of centers. Providers also sent letters to the editor and did stories with every type of news outlet that would listen. I am so proud of all of the providers who stepped up and continued to push this message that what we do is important and we deserve support. Because advocates and parents kept showing up and talking about the lack of accessible and affordable childcare, ideas at the Capitol started to shift.
I spoke to legislators from both sides of the aisle. I heard legislators starting to talk about the “childcare crisis” and realize that it wasn’t happening just because “we didn’t know how to run our businesses”. They started to say out loud that parents shouldn’t have to pay 25% of their income to have their children in childcare. During the end legislators who previously wouldn’t have said they supported childcare investment said they would try and get something done. This all shifted because providers kept showing up and we kept demanding change.
In the end, in the negotiations certain things were agreed upon to get a budget signed. In the end, it wasn’t ideal but it did do two things. Direct payments will continue to go to providers for the next year and Early Education is finally funded with state dollars in the Wisconsin Budget. YAY!
Does this budget solve everything? No. Does it provide $330 million directly to providers? No. Did Wisconsin finally put state money in the budget for Early Education? Yes. Is there an infant/toddler program with deregulation and changed ratios? Yes. Is there a deregulation around 16 year olds as assistants? Yes. Is there $110 million in direct payments to providers? Yes
I absolutely do not think de-regulation is the answer to the childcare crisis. I believe it is harmful to children and is not best practice. I will not be participating in the infant/toddler program that is outlined in this budget. I know I cannot get staff in my center to continue work when I ask them to take care of three more toddlers on their own. A teacher in this proposed program would take care of seven toddlers ages 18 months and up on their own. Right now that same teacher is expected to care for four toddlers that age. Even though some states have this ratio, NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) clearly states best practice is 1:4 for this age group.
I would also not hire a 16 year old as an assistant teacher to add to my staff. I don’t believe 16 year olds are ready for the amount of children and the quality time and interaction they need to have to be positive role models for the children in my center. 16 year olds are still children themselves. 16 year olds also only help staffing from afterschool on. Most centers have shortages all day long and need help finding those people.
The only reason why childcare is in the state budget this year is because Governor Evers has always made childcare and early education a priority in Wisconsin. He understands that accessible and affordable quality childcare is important to our youngest residents and their families but also to our economy. The Republicans needed to come to the table for a compromise and I am thankful that childcare was one of the priorities during these negotiation meetings.
Government and policy shift takes time. Most political issues that had lasting change were fixed with multiple pieces of legislation over multiple years. Advocating with the government is a constant back and forth of not getting what you want. This means that we must go back in two years, to make this change more durable. I have been told that change happens when groups of people come together for the greater good. Childcare advocates have created a strong network and we are not done advocating for the change that is needed for providers to keep their door open and for educators to get a living wage. I believe childcare is infrastructure and a public good. We will continue to advocate and educate on why our community and economy are stronger when a well supported childcare system is in place.