Wisconsin needs affordable child care

By David Haas (w/ Fox Cities Progressive)

I write in response to the Post-Crescent’s Sept. 28 article headlined 'Child care even harder to find, more expensive than college, report finds.' The lack of affordable childcare is an ongoing problem in Wisconsin, and Gov. Edwards has proposed a partial solution that we should all support. The solution is an extension in 2024 of 'Child Care Counts.' 'Child Care Counts' was established to help childcare centers survive during the pandemic, and it has proved very successful. It will expire at the end of this year, and we need to extend it, but Republicans in the legislature are opposing the extension.

The cost and scarcity of childcare are huge problems in Wisconsin. A Post-Crescent article published on Feb. 3, 2023 said, 'Child care is already unaffordable for most Wisconsin families. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services considers child care affordable if it takes 7% or less of a household’s income, all children included. Brooke Skidmore, owner and director of New Glarus’ The Growing Tree Child Care Center and WECAN co-founder, said that many families devote 20% to 40% of their household income for one child alone.'

We desperately need affordable child care in our state. The lack of affordable child care makes it hard for businesses to hire people and hard for families to work themselves out of poverty. Don’t stand by. Contact your legislators and tell them to support the extension of 'Child Care Counts.'

*Blog posts represent the views of the author, but do not necessarily reflect the views of the local, state, or national Democratic Party*