This is yet another example of a “temporary” or “emergency” government program that people are trying to make permanent. The politicians decided that it was fair for taxpayers to pay for child care during the pandemic because of… something. Now that the pandemic is over, there is still an entire ecosystem of child care providers and parents who want to continue to suckle at that teat. The same politicians are pushing to make the welfare permanent as another step down the road of Socialism. Rinse. Repeat. Incrementalism works.

One in four Wisconsin child care providers could close their doors if the state’s ongoing support isn’t replaced after it ends in June, according to a state-commissioned report released Thursday.

 

More than one in three providers expect to reduce their capacity for children or the hours they operate, or both, according to the report, based on a survey of most of the state’s licensed child care providers.

 

The report was commissioned by the state Department of Children and Families (DCF) and produced by the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

 

It was released by the office of Gov. Tony Evers to support $480 million for child care providers in his 2025-27 proposed budget — a successor to the state’s Child Care Counts program that was funded with federal pandemic relief money.