A group of parents from northern Wisconsin went to Madison on Wednesday to protest cuts to the state’s Child Care Counts program.

Created during the pandemic, the Child Care Counts Program helps child care providers increase wages, provide benefits, and expand access to care for families. This program has helped over 5,300 child care providers keep their doors open, ensured the employment of over 64,500 child care professionals, and allowed providers to continue care for more than 364,000 kids.

Funding for the Child Care Counts Program was not included in the 2023-25 biennial budget, so the program is set to end by the end of June.

As part of a radio address in March, Governor Tony Evers spoke about initiatives included in his 2025-27 Executive Budget proposal, including more funding for Child Care Counts.

“Folks, failing to stabilize our child care industry will have disastrous consequences for working families, our workforce, and our economy.

Wisconsinites need the Legislature to get serious about lowering out-of-pocket costs for child care this session. No more excuses, folks.

It’s time to make child care more affordable in Wisconsin.” – Governor Tony Evers

As it gets closer to the end of the program, parents and child care providers rallied in Madison on Wednesday for Child Care Advocacy Day. Jeanne Myer is the Executive Director of Family Forum, a local non-profit that covers Early Head Start and Head Start programs in Douglas, Price, Iron, Bayfield, and Ashland Counties. Myer was part of the protest on Wednesday, standing up for those in the Head Start program and other child care facilities that rely on the Child Care Counts funding.

“It’s hard to see that funding going away because that has been the extra surplus that we’ve been able to give as income, and we’ve also been able to help supply our facilities and our buildings and toys and equipment,” said Myer. “We work very hard to provide a quality wage for our staff. And it’s one of those areas where we need additional funding to keep raising our staff wages.”

In addition to losing this supplementary funding, the federal funding for Head Start is also at risk. On Friday, USA Today reported that the Trump Administration plans on fully eliminating Head Start in their budget proposal.

On April 1, five out of ten regional centers for Head Start were eliminated, including the one that serves Wisconsin Head Start programs.

“So that’s my fiscal person up there. That’s my program specialist. That’s my grantee specialist. Those are the ones that we call and say we need support,” explained Myer. “All of that communication is now gone.”

WDIO News is working on an in-depth report on this issue that will include more information on the importance of Head Start and the impact on the community if funding is lost.