The 2021-23 Budget for K-12 Education Wisconsin students across the state deserve access to an excellent public education, and Wisconsin residents should be able to enjoy the economic benefits generated by a first-class public school system. To ensure that the doors of opportunity are open to everyone, Wisconsin needs to invest in our...
Legislature’s Health Budget – Missed Opportunities for a Healthier, more Equitable Wisconsin
The legislature’s Joint Finance Committee put forward a budget that in many ways continues the status quo while providing substantial increases for personal care services and boosting funding for certain Medicaid providers, such as dentists and emergency physicians. It also increases funding for hospitals, nursing homes, and behavioral...
Unpacking Wisconsin’s Coverage Gap and how BadgerCare Expansion Can Help
Wisconsin lawmakers still refuse to expand BadgerCare. Instead they are relying on the Affordable Care Act Marketplace to cover low-income individuals and parents who would otherwise be eligible for BadgerCare if Wisconsin joined the 38 states that have expanded Medicaid (known in Wisconsin as BadgerCare). This decision leaves thousands...
Family Child Care is Work, So Why Aren’t Providers Seen as “Working Professionals” Yet?
This guest blog was written by our UW Public Humanities Fellow, Kate MacCrimmon. She has been at Kids Forward over the past academic year. Kate offers a unique perspective as both a former Family Child Care provider and doctoral candidate researching the subject. This is the second in a two-part series connecting family child care...
Wisconsin Legislature Shows Budget Priorities by Voting Against Expanding Health Care, and For a Tax Cut for the Wealthy
Last week the budget committee of the Wisconsin legislature removed a provision from the state budget that would have provided health insurance to almost 100,000 Wisconsin residents with low incomes, while saving the state more than a billion dollars in tax revenue over the next two years. On the same day, the committee preserved a tax...
BadgerCare Expansion Won’t Go Away – It’s Too Good a Deal
Republican legislators would like to kill off the idea of expanding BadgerCare eligibility by removing it from the Wisconsin budget, but it won’t go away that easily. It will keep coming back because the case for expansion is so compelling. Most significant budget proposals require increased state spending, and if they are not included...
Summary of Governor’s Proposed Budget for Early Education Issues
The events of 2020 made the importance of investing in early education more obvious than ever. The COVID-19 pandemic shined a light on the fact that child care providers are an essential component of our state’s economy. In addition, increased awareness of our nation’s severe racial disparities has boosted interest in combating...
How Can We Strengthen Wisconsin Families? Support Family Child Care Providers
This guest blog was written by our UW Public Humanities Fellow, Kate MacCrimmon. She has been at Kids Forward over the past academic year. Kate offers a unique perspective as both a former Family Child Care provider and doctoral candidate researching the subject. This is the first in a two part series connecting provider voices to...
Equity in Early Learning: Continuing Assessments on Race and Ethnicity in Wisconsin Shares, YoungStar and Four-Year-Old Kindergarten
In the Spring of 2020, Kids Forward published its first report that specifically examined racial equity in Wisconsin’s Early Care and Education (ECE) system. Unsurprisingly, the resulting data showed significant disparities in access to high-quality childcare as determined by YoungStar rating. Fortunately, we did not see this same...
Summary of Governor’s Proposed Budget for Immigrant Issues
Governor Evers has proposed a budget that removes barriers to driver licenses for undocumented immigrants, allows undocumented students to qualify for in-state tuition, provides additional resources for English language learner services in K-12 schools, and creates a Latinx outreach specialist at the Department of Agriculture Trade and...
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