MILWAUKEE — From coast to coast, thousands of parents and childcare providers across the U.S. are calling out of work or closing their doors for National Day Without Childcare, pressing lawmakers for affordable childcare and better pay for educators.
TMJ4's Ryan Jenkins spoke with a parent, a provider, and policymakers during a roundtable conversation about the cost of childcare in Milwaukee on Monday. The event is part of National Day Without Child Care.
"It was heartbreaking that I had to leave a profession that I really, really genuinely loved. I loved what I did and I was good at it, but I also love my kids," said Toshiba Adams. She's a local college professor who left her career in Early Childhood Learning to help raise her kids and ensure they were raised in a financially stable home. "It's about children and it's about families."
She is one of the women who pulled up a chair at the table during the National Day without Childcare roundtable on Milwaukee's North Side. People shared their perspectives about the need for funding to offset the costs.
A recent study by Forward Analytics showed that in 2021, the average cost of Infant Child Care in Wisconsin was $13,572 per year.
According to data from CARE.com, families are spending, on average, 24% of their income on child care.
At the event on Monday, we learned how the cost impacts the community beyond parents.
"The fear is that we are going to have to close our doors. If we don't have the money to continue our services, then we have to close our doors," said Kelly Melton, Owner of Itsy Bitsy Scholars. Melton helped organize Monday's event.
She told TMJ4 News that the rising costs of childcare add up for providers when you factor in the cost of food, curriculum, supplies and other operating costs like insurance and employee wages. Those wages are also a concern with the average hourly rate in Wisconsin sitting at just over $13 per hour for many early childhood educators.
"The folks who provide childcare, they are the workforce behind the workforce," said Milwaukee's Mayor Cavalier Johnson.
The group of providers who met Monday shared a list of demands for legislators and policymakers, demanding an equitable childcare system, thriving wages for providers and care that is affordable to all families.
Mayor Johnson was there to show his support.
"If we make these investments earlier on in the lives of young people, then they're better positioned later on to get a job, to graduate from high school, to go to college and things like that, and then they become productive, contributing members of society," said Mayor Johnson, who told TMJ4's Ryan Jenkins that he believes Wisconsin is falling behind the curve on the issue of funding early childhood education. "The one government entity that has the opportunity to make these sort of investments in a large way is state government"
State Senator LaTonya Johnson, a former early childhood educator herself, was there too.
"The 170 Million Dollars that Gov. Evers put in to extend childcare counts will only last until June 2025," she said.
Johnson said early childhood education must be funded or the state risks losing childcare slots for some 82,000 children.
"Let's be real. We have 1.8 Billion Dollars in our Rainy Day fund that collects 7.2 Million per month in interest. We have the money to resolve this problem," said State Sen. Johnson.
A push for funding from both parents and providers, ultimately for our community's kids, as the cost of early childhood education climbs.
"Speak up and be an advocate for early educators. If you have an early educator who's taking care of your children, speak up for them," said Adams.
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