Gov. Tony Evers and the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families (DCF) announced the results of DCF’s Child Care Supply and Demand Survey, which found almost 60% 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.
Wisconsin child care centers are only able to pay lead teachers an average of $13.55 per hour, which is less than half of the average hourly wage of $28.34 for Wisconsin workers. Unlivable wages, combined with few or no benefits, are causing qualified early care and education professionals to leave the field. Providers reported in the survey that a total of 48,000 kids are on waitlists in Wisconsin.
Evers says that to increase capacity and reduce waitlists, a long-term investment in the Child Care Counts Program is needed. Launched in 2020 via federal relief dollars, the program has delivered over $750 million in upstream support to child care providers to increase wages, provide benefits, and expand access. According to a report from The Century Foundation, without additional continued investments, 2,110 child care programs are projected to close, resulting in over 87,000 children 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.
