“This is an amazing place. One of the best facilities I’ve ever seen,” Gov. Tony Evers stated as his tour of the child care center of Southwest Wisconsin Technical College (SWTC) was wrapping up.
Gov. Evers and his staff toured the facility which provides care for the kids of students and staff at the college, mid-morning on Thursday, March 27, the first of two child care tours the governor was scheduled to take that day (the other being a facility in Brookfield).
Having previously declared 2025 as the “Year of The Kid” during his State of the State Address back in January, Evers’ tour was in part to highlight the governor’s 2025-27 Executive Budget, part of which includes Evers’ hope to make the Child Care Counts Program permanent.
The Child Care Counts Program was created during the pandemic to support the child care industry by helping child care providers increase wages, provide benefits, and expand access to care for families.
In June 2023, the Wisconsin Legislature, controlled by Republicans, voted to end funding for the child care subsidy program over the objections of Democrats and child care providers who argued that the move would be devastating for needy families and the state’s economy.
Republicans instead voted for increasing the funding for programs run by the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families, including a $15 million fund to distribute loans to child care providers.
Currently, the Child Care Counts Program is set to end by the end of June 2025.
Gov. Evers’ tour of the facility, which has received over $310,000 in Child Care Counts funding, was lead by Emily McBee, SWTC Child Care Manager, and started out in the infant room.
After a few “comments” to the governor from the infants, the tour moved on to the toddler room. There, Brianna Fortney, SWTC Career Prep and Dual Enrollment Coordinator, who has one child enrolled at the college’s child care center, and another on the way, explained to the governor how fortunate the staff and students are to be able to have child care available to them on campus.
Renae Blaschke, an early childhood education instructor at the college, informed the governor of the lack of child care centers in the immediate area, citing one center in Boscobel and Lancaster and further stated that “community leaders are realizing how the lack of child care affects their whole community,” and many reach out to the college seeing what they can do.
Gov. Evers asked McBee about finding employees at the child care center, to which McBee stated, “We (SWTC) are very fortunate to have our graduates stay and say how much this is a great place to work, as not everywhere else is as fortunate.”
The tour became a lot more lively once it reached the two-year-old’s room at which the governor interacted with kids playing with a Thomas The Train playset and received hugs from the children in the room.
After another room with lively activity in the pre-schoolers’ room. Evers was fortunate to have children and teachers to visit in the school-age room, as many school districts were on spring break.
The tour ended with a stop in the large play area/gymnasium of the center.
Throughout the tour, Gov. Evers was approached by many SWTC employees informing the governor how much the center meant to them, saying, for example, “I wouldn’t be able to do this (work at the Tech) without having this here.” Evers also heard a great deal of appreciation of his support to child care.
After the tour, after again stating how “impressed” he was with the center, Evers stated, “We have to make people understand how important accessible and affordable child care is.”
He went on to say, “Some in the legislation still just don’t understand how important child care centers like this one are and the impact on life in Wisconsin will take if centers begin having to shut down.”
When asked about what chances he felt about the continuation of the Child Care Count Program, Evers stated, “It didn’t work out last time. I’m very hopeful, but everything is in the hands of the legislation.”
To date, the program has helped over 5,300 child care providers keep their doors open, ensuring the employment of over 64,500 child care professionals and allowing providers to continue to care for more than 364,000 kids.
In Grant County, 35 providers have received over $6 million in Child Care Counts funding.
One of those providers, Beth Creighton Mikrut-Gilies, owner of In The Beginning Child Care and Learning Center in Boscobel, Prairie du Chien, and Dodgeville, stated to the Times that with the funding, the biggest use her centers have used the funds for are for employees wages.
“We were able to give raises when it first came out and we have been able to keep them that higher wage.”
Mikrut-Gilies, who also is a WCCAA (Wisconsin Child Care Administrators Association Board of Director member, encourages parents of children in child care to contact their district legislators and urge them to keep the Child Care Count Program going.
“As a WCCAA Board of Directors member, I have and will continue to advocate for child care funding, but we can’t do it alone. Your (child care parents) voices matter and together we can make a greater impact,” she stated. “A short e-mail to legislators can go a long way in showing them how vital this support for families is.”
The governor’s 2025-2027 budget proposal will invest over $500 million to lower child care costs, support the industry, invest in employer-sponsored child care, and make the successful Child Care Counts Program permanent.
A press release from Gov. Evers’ office cited a recent report from The Century Foundation found that without additional continued investments, 2,110 child care programs are projected to close, resulting in over 87,000 kids without child care in Wisconsin and the loss of over 4,880 child care jobs.
Additionally, the lack of access to child care could potentially cause about half a billion dollars in economic impacts across the state.
