MADISON — Gov. Tony Evers, together with the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families (DCF), today announced the results of DCF’s Child Care Supply and Demand Survey, which found almost 60 percent of providers across the state have unutilized capacity, such as closed classrooms, due primarily to staff shortages. Providers report that if they were able to operate at full capacity, they could serve up to 33,000 more kids.“Working parents across our state depend on having high-quality, affordable child care so they can get to work and feed their families, but with providers closing their doors and reducing slots due to staffing, affordable child care is becoming harder and harder to find,” said Gov. Evers. “This is not sustainable. If we want to address our state’s generational workforce challenges, we must make sure child care centers have the resources they need to keep their doors open, pay their staff fairly, and serve as many kids as possible. It’s as simple as that.”
“The fully-funded Child Care Counts Program provided crucial support for child care providers to avoid big tuition increases while recruiting and retaining qualified staff,” said DCF Secretary Jeff Pertl. “Unfortunately, part of the large workforce shortage that we are seeing in this survey is a ripple effect of the Child Care Counts payments being cut in half and a preview of what we can expect should the program not receive state funding.”...
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- - Volume: 24 - WEEK: 38 Date: 9/19/2024 12:40:51 PM -