Frederica Freyberg:
“Child Care Counts,” that’s the name of a COVID era state funding program for child care providers that expires next year. It’s also the adage of advocates that want the state to invest permanently in the increasing cost of child care. In a collaboration with Wisconsin Public Radio’s “America Amplified” project, “Here & Now’s” Aditi Debnath is reporting on questions voters are asking this election. This is the second story in that series.

Heather Murray:
Where are your parents while you’re here? Lilia? They’re at work.

Aditi Debnath:
Arthouse Preschool owner Heather Murray explains to her students why they’re observing “A Day without Child Care.”

Heather Murray:
Now a lot of kids in Wisconsin and across the country do not have a place to play or to learn, so we’re here to talk about that today.

Aditi Debnath:
Waunakee Village Board member Robert McPherson joins Murray.

Robert McPherson:
We created the Waunakee Child Care Providers Assistance Program.

Aditi Debnath:
The program invests $85,000 into the local child care industry.

Robert McPherson:
And really what it means is it helps us at the village be able to help the child care providers within the village to help pay for provider services.

Aditi Debnath:
Murray got the idea for Arthouse Preschool more than 18 years ago.

Heather Murray:
I started out as an elementary school teacher and then started this center when my youngest was about 14 months old, wanting quality child care for my own kids.

Aditi Debnath:
Since the pandemic, she’s been advocating for increased state support for child care.

Ruth Schmidt:
The state of Wisconsin received close to $800 million in COVID relief money that was to be directed to child care. That is what allowed us to keep our industry going.

Aditi Debnath:
Ruth Schmidt runs WECA, the Wisconsin Early Childhood Association. That pandemic relief money came through a program called “Child Care Counts.” The Waunakee Child Care Providers Assistance Program aims to mirror “Child Care Counts” on a local level.

Ruth Schmidt:
For me, it does two things. It’s a step in the right direction and an acknowledgment that this industry needs financial support.

Amy Kloppenburg:
Both my husband and I work full time, and both of us have careers that are important to us, and neither of us were really interested or at a point where we thought it made sense for our family to stop.

Aditi Debnath:
Amy Kloppenburg has two sons that attend Arthouse. She makes the 12-mile drive to Waunakee from nearby Madison twice a day for her kids. It hasn’t been easy.

Amy Kloppenburg:
I contacted, and I’m not exaggerating, I contacted 35 daycares, both on Madison’s east and west side, and then I finally started reaching out farther than Madison.

Aditi Debnath:
Finding child care is stressful and at times complex for parents like Amy. Is there child care in your area? If there is, is there availability in the classroom? If there is, can you afford it?

Heather Murray:
Personally, when I raised tuition, I had two families that decided it was better if they stayed at home financially. So we’re essentially pricing some families out of child care.

Alex Joers:
That means that working hard to make sure that you all have enough toys, enough books, enough teachers.

Aditi Debnath:
Representative Alex Joers represents Waunakee in the state Assembly. He attends the Arthouse event with his newborn daughter, Emme.

Alex Joers:
I put forward legislation to continue the “Child Care Counts” program at an amount of $350 million, and that’s just a drop in the bucket compared to the five or excuse me, $3 billion surplus that we have in this state.

Aditi Debnath:
During the last session, Republicans rejected proposals by Joers and Governor Evers to invest state money into child care. Instead, Assembly Republicans passed a package to address the profitability of child care centers. Part of the plan calls for a loan program to help child care centers to pay for renovations and changing the minimum age for entry level positions from 18 to 16. Governor Evers vetoed all but one bill in that package, which expands a tax credit program for child care expenses. The political standoff means government support is ending.

Alex Joers:
We’ve seen the “Child Care Counts” money be greatly reduced over the years, and we will see it expire next year. So the money that’s being used at a state level is just enough to keep the doors open.

Aditi Debnath:
Heather Murray says state funding is actually less than what providers like herself need to keep centers open. Overwhelmingly, Murray says she needs more money to pay her employees a fair wage.

Heather Murray:
We need investments from the state to be able to maintain the staff we have now and the salaries that they’re getting.

Aditi Debnath:
McPherson says Waunakee’s investment is a stopgap measure, not a permanent subsidy.

Robert McPherson:
We, as a village, we’re helping just out for a couple of months. We think is how much money that we’re going to have, but we’re hoping that the state and federal resources will come together and continue to provide child care providers, because this is really something that we need.

Aditi Debnath:
Surprisingly, the families getting priced out are not the low-income ones.

Ruth Schmidt:
We’re losing that middle section, right? We still have supports for low-income families, and we still have high income families that can afford care.

Aditi Debnath:
Waunakee has many families that fall into that middle section.

Robert McPherson:
When my child was born, we couldn’t find child care for the first 6 to 8 months of her life, and it meant that I couldn’t go back to work.

Amy Kloppenburg:
It shouldn’t just be for people who have a partner that both people work. People should be able to live and work and have child care.

Aditi Debnath:
Reporting from Waunakee, I’m Aditi Debnath for “Here & Now.”