Wisconsin Council on Children and Families has released a report, Are We at the Crossroads for Wisconsin Child Care? Policies in Conflict. The paper examines the conflicting public policies in child care and their implications. The policy analysis tracks the history of two major child care programs, the Wisconsin Shares child care subsidy program and the YoungStar Quality Rating and Improvement System.
While YoungStar shows promising trends in improving the quality of early care and education in Wisconsin, child care programs are heavily dependent on Wisconsin Shares funding, which has been steadily declining. Changes are needed to support and sustain high-quality child care.
The report includes a 20 year overview and focuses on the importance of a quality child care system, the promise of YoungStar, and the decline of Wisconsin Shares and its implications.
Recommendations include:
- Adopt the Wisconsin Early Childhood Advisory Council recommendation to provide direct support to high-quality programs
- Improve child care payment rates
- Help child care programs to attract and retain a quality child care workforce
- Support on-going research
Dave Edie, Early Childhood Policy Analyst
