State Sen. Kelda Roys, holding her toddler, speaks about legislation Democrats are proposing to provide ongoing funding for child care providers. (Photo by Erik Gunn/Wisconsin Examiner)

Democratic lawmakers are circulating a draft bill to extend the soon-to-end state child care support program and fund it with $480 million that was stripped from the 2025-27 state budget.

The proposed legislation follows action earlier this month by Republican lawmakers to remove child care support and more than 600 other items that Gov. Tony Evers included in his draft budget.

Both Evers’ proposal and the Democrats’ bill aim to continue support that child care providers have been receiving since 2020 as part of federal pandemic relief.

“This funding has been essential in continuing successful programs that support our early educators, child care providers, parents, and most importantly, our kids,” said state Rep. Alex Joers (D-Middleton) at a Capitol news conference Thursday announcing the legislation.

The $20 million that Wisconsin paid out each month to providers through mid-2023 “kept our early educators in the workforce, held tuition down for parents and provided a direct investment in our children during the most crucial years of their childhood development,” Joers said.

Payments were cut to $10 million a month in June 2023, and the last of those funds will be paid out by early July.

“But with this impending deadline, child care providers and early educators are faced with the impossible decision to either raise rates or have to close altogether,” Joers said. “Without assurance of this funding lifeline, many have already made that decision and have devastatingly shut their doors forever.”

Citing recent reports, Joers said that there are 48,000 children on waiting lists for child care in Wisconsin. In a survey of providers, 78% said they would have to raise fees for infant care — the most expensive age group in most child care programs.

“Altogether, if nothing changes, parents are looking at having to find an additional up to $2,600 in their yearly budget,” Joers said.

First-term Sen. Sarah Keyeski (D-Lodi), the lead state Senate author on the legislation, said that when she was running for office last year, voters repeatedly shared their concerns about the cost and scarcity of child care.

“We have historically undervalued and underpaid child care and early education professionals,” Keyeski said. “This is no longer tenable.”

She described the plight of one constituent who had to change providers three times after the first and then the second provider went out of business because of financial difficulties or other constraints. The mother told her that her current provider — the third — had rates that are “at the top” of what the family could afford.

Keyeski said the provider has told the woman that unless the state can continue with its support, the center’s rates will go up $40 a week, or $160 a month. For the couple, “this increase is unsustainable,” she said. “Her family is left wondering, what to do next?”

Wisconsin’s rural communities have been especially hard hit, she added: In 70% of them, there are three or more children for every child care opening.

“In my district alone, over 34,000 children need care, but there are only about 26,000 available slots,” Keyeski said.

Child care should be viewed as essential infrastructure, said state Rep. Renuka Mayadev (D-Madison).

“And as a state, we support infrastructure. We maintain roads, we maintain bridges. Why is funding childcare such a fight?” Mayadev said.

Wages of less than $14 an hour are driving child care workers out of the field, she added. “There is no other industry where such high value work is being done at such dismal low wages.”

Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison) — accompanied by her toddler son before she took him to his child care provider near the Capitol — said the legislation calls for $480 million in state funds over the next two years.

“But I think the real question is what it will cost the state if we don’t do it,” Roys said. She forecast “continued massive closures” of child care centers.

“Already over 60% of child care providers have classrooms sitting empty or slots that can’t be filled because they don’t have the teachers to fill them,” she added.

Roys said child care was a critical need in order for the state to address persistent shortages of people to fill jobs.

“In critical areas like public safety, in K-12 education, in health care — what is it going to mean if the parents of even more kids can’t get child care?” Roys said. “We can’t afford that. We have to make this investment.”

Reps. Angelito Tenorio, Francesca Hong and Renuka Mayadev in the Wisconsin State Assembly chambers. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)

After two sessions as the only Asian American lawmaker in the Wisconsin Legislature, Rep. Francesca Hong (D-Madison), who was first elected in 2020, stood alongside freshmen Reps. Angelito Tenorio (D-West Allis) and Renuka Mayadev (D-Madison) Thursday to announce the formation of the state’s first Legislative Asian Caucus.

The lawmakers announced the creation of the caucus on the first day of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, saying that they have a responsibility to represent Asian American Wisconsinites, who make up 6% of the state, and to work to advance their rights, visibility and improve their daily lives.

“I’m deeply grateful, and I couldn’t think of a better team to be in the Asian caucus with… We have the distinct opportunity to make all of our communities stronger,” said Hong, who is the daughter of Korean immigrants, said. At one point during the press conference, Hong said she felt like she was going to cry.

Tenorio is the first Filipino American to be elected to the state Legislature, and said during the press conference that his parents immigrated to the U.S. “in hopes of finding a better life.” He said that growing up he didn’t see people that looked like him in leadership positions, including in government. 

“That lack of representation stuck with me, and I knew I wanted to change that,” Tenorio said, adding that he was an activist in college, served in the Wisconsin Army National Guard and has become an advocate for addressing climate change and protecting the environment. 

Tenorio said the creation of the caucus is “historic” and a “declaration” that Asian Americans deserve to help shape the future of the state. 

“For too long, our stories, struggles, strengths and victories have been overlooked,” Tenorio said. “As members of the Legislature, we have a seat at the table, and we carry the responsibility to make this table bigger, more inclusive and more representative of our state.” 

Tenorio noted that the lawmakers have introduced a resolution to recognize 2025 as the “Year of the Snake” and a resolution to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the conclusion of the Vietnam War, the Secret War in Laos and of the 50th anniversary of the Fall of Phnom Penh in Cambodia —  conflicts that led to people from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam resettling in the U.S. 

“Such communities largely resettled in Wisconsin, overcoming adversity to establish vibrant communities that have significantly contributed to the social, cultural, and economic fabric of our state” the commemorative resolution states. “Wisconsin is now home to the third-largest Hmong population in the United States, with communities thriving in cities like Appleton, Sheboygan, Green Bay, Wausau and Milwaukee.” 

“These resolutions aren’t just ceremonial. They’re a part of our broader efforts to write our stories into the narrative of our states, to affirm that we are not outsiders,” Tenorio said. “We are part of the fabric of Wisconsin.”

The caucus members said they will host events throughout the month to highlight the contributions of Asian Americans, including one focused on Japanese internment, another on celebrating the Hmong community and one to uplift Filipino stories.

“There is so much to celebrate, so much to be proud of and so much to feel honored by being an Asian American,” Hong said. 

Maydev is the first South Asian elected to the Assembly and represents the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus and other parts of the state’s capital city. She noted that her district is about 17% Asian American and she represents the highest concentration of Asian Americans in the state. 

Mayadev said that her journey to hold public office didn’t start when she submitted her nomination papers. 

“It started when my parents decided to leave everything they knew in their homes more than 50 years ago, and traveled from India as immigrants to the United States,” Mayadev said. “Like the representatives beside me, we are all first-generation Americans — proud children of immigrants.”

Mayadev also emphasized that the lawmakers will bring in the voices of others in the community. She said people have reached out to her for that reason already. 

“They said they’ve never reached out to an Assembly person before, but they reached out to me because they felt that they would have an empathetic ear and an understanding that goes deeper that maybe they felt that somebody else wouldn’t be able to be,” Mayadev said. 

Hong said caucus members will also make sure to go to different communities in the state and work to identify leaders who want to build relationships. 

The formation of the caucus comes as Republicans at a federal and state level have targeted immigrants as well as diversity and inclusion efforts. 

“We must do more. We know the reality on the ground. AAPI folks, like so many immigrants, workers and people of color, continue to face threats and challenges — from the underrepresentation and political exclusion of Asian Americans to the surge in anti-Asian hate crimes to growing economic inequality,” Tenorio said. “We are navigating a landscape that too often undermines our dignity and our safety.” 

Mayadev acknowledged the caucus is being established during a time of upheaval for immigrants as the Trump administration has proclaimed its aim of carrying out mass deportations and has detained even immigrants who are in the country legally. Wisconsin Republicans have supported those efforts, seeking legislation that requires local law enforcement to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and to discussing removing a Milwaukee County judge who was arrested by the FBI and is accused of impeding the arrest of a man that ICE followed to her courtroom.

“There’s much uncertainty and fear,” Mayadev said, adding that caucus members are committed to providing “guidance and leadership during this time, so that all feel welcome in Wisconsin.”

Asked about the targeting of inclusion efforts by Republicans in the state Legislature, Hong mentioned a recent hearing in the Joint Audit Committee, where Republican lawmakers grilled state agency leaders on their inclusion efforts. 

“I plan to speak with the chairs of that committee about my experiences when I first got here of deep xenophobia and racism,” she said, adding that she hoped by being “very truthful, honest and vulnerable” she and other members of color could “dispel some of the preconceived notions that racism and discrimination isn’t happening right here in the halls of power amongst colleagues.”