Are We at the Crossroads for Wisconsin Child Care? Policies in Conflict

by | August 10, 2016

Home 9 Early Care and Education 9 Are We at the Crossroads for Wisconsin Child Care? Policies in Conflict ( Page 7 )

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.

Early Learning

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.

Crossroads Infographic_2

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

Kids Forward
Kids Forward

Join us to build a Wisconsin where every child and family thrives.

Donate Now

Recent

Wisconsin Youth Conversations

Wisconsin Youth Conversations

by | Mar 28, 2024

healthTIDE and Kids Forward hosted four Healthy Food Youth Conversations with 30 middle and high school Latino, Black, and Asian students from Milwaukee, Appleton, and Stevens Point, which took place between December 2023 and January 2024.

Sign up for Emails

Your address helps us identify your legislators and the most relevant messages to send you.