Linda Kudrna, Cottage Grove (WI)

I’ve always believed that caring for the youngest children in our communities is important. My “a-ha moment” happened years ago when my first child was four years old. I walked in the front door of what is now the Learning Ladder child care center to apply for a teaching position. Two years later I bought into the business and expanded it. That was nearly 30 years ago! Today, I am the owner and administrator and we serve families in Cottage Grove, Madison, and the surrounding area.

In my role, I see that women are joining the workforce more rapidly than ever. We must support their work by providing accessible, affordable and high quality care for children. It’s a necessity for our economy, and it’s a necessity for our youngest children.

We’ve had many people move to our area of Wisconsin because of our child care center and the quality of care we can offer. We’ve had people come from all over the United States to take a tour. We’ve had a lot of them move into our community because they wanted their kids to attend our center. Good child care centers bring in good people who add to the workforce.

A good environment for children has to be a stable one. We need educated teachers who are paid well, an appropriate early learning curriculum, and what’s called a “mixed delivery system for the upcoming Universal 3 & 4K.

In this approach, early learning programs can be located in any school, licensed child care center, licensed family child care home, Head Start program, or other community-based program that meets agreed-upon quality criteria. At the Federal level, the Build Back Better plan includes substantial funding for Universal 3 & 4K and child care. My hope is that Wisconsin will accept this funding and move our state forward with a mixed delivery system. 

In a nutshell, a mixed delivery system is a way to maximize access to high-quality, affordable options for all children through age five; it can help us address the child care shortage. This approach means Wisconsin could have a more robust network of providers and could better meet the needs of families, children, and our workforce.

I have learned a great deal about what is needed for good child care, first as a parent, then as a teacher, and now as an administrator. What I can tell you is that child care is here to stay, but it is in dire need of substantial financial support and new solutions–such as the mixed delivery system–to make it more available and more affordable in our state.

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Interview and writing completed by Danika Laine Brubaker. A collaboration of Kids Forward, Supporting Families Together Association, Wisconsin Head Start Association, and Wisconsin Early Childhood Association supported by Voices for Healthy Kids policy campaign and the American Heart Association.