Wisconsin Votes to Cut Pandemic Era Child Care Subsidies

Republican lawmakers on Wisconsin's Joint Finance Committee voted early one Friday in June 2023 to eliminate funding for Child Care Counts, the pandemic era subsidy program that had helped keep the state's child care industry afloat.

The GOP controlled committee cast the vote around 2:30 a.m. after a meeting delayed for more than ten hours, a timing the governor's office said prevented constituents from responding.

Since March 2020, the program had distributed nearly $600 million to more than 4,900 child care providers, and without new money that funding was set to run out by February 2024.

Democratic Governor Tony Evers had proposed making the program permanent with more than $300 million in state funds over two years, but Republicans rejected the plan and offered no debate as they removed it.

Opponents warned of serious fallout, with Senator Kelda Roys predicting a devastating impact on children and the economy and provider Brooke Skidmore, who owns The Growing Tree, saying there was no logical reason not to fund the program.

Parent Tim Ballard added that families can hold careers largely because of the work child care providers do, while Republican Representative Jessie Rodriguez said the party was developing separate legislation to help open more child care centers.

That 2:30 a.m. vote set the pattern: Wisconsin has rationed child care money one stopgap at a time. Child Care Counts payments were halved in 2023, the federal dollars ran out in June 2025, and the state budget signed that year gave providers $110 million in bridge payments for one year against the $480 million Governor Tony Evers sought, Wisconsin Examiner reports. That bridge ended on June 30, 2026. A provider survey found 25% could close and over 75% plan tuition increases, per WSAW, with center infant care already $17,400 a year. Republicans answer that families should keep the money. Nothing moves before November, so the next test is the 2027 budget written by a new governor.