MADISON, WI (WTAQ-WRN) — Child care in rural Wisconsin will be affected, as the federal funding for Wisconsin’s Child Care Counts program ends next year.
Ruth Schmidt with the Wisconsin Early Childhood Association says “family care,” operating out of homes, has already been declining
“So a mom has young children herself, decides to open a childcare program and become regulated for health and safety purposes. That’s family childcare.” said Schmidt. “We saw a loss of about 75% of our family child care programs, which hits rural Wisconsin and really devastating ways.”
Schmidt says there used to be close to 8,000 family childcare programs in the state, now there’s close to 2,500.
Governor Tony Evers on Tuesday again urged lawmakers to provide additional money for child care providers in a special session he’s called for next month.
