Governor Tony Evers visits Redgranite childcare center

REDGRANITE, WI – (WISS & WGBW) – Governor Tony Evers made a quick stop in Redgranite Tuesday to visit Little Sprouts Discovery Center. Since March 2020, Little Sprouts Discovery Center has received over $295,000 from the Child Care Counts Program. A program that Evers says must continue.

“It’s important for our economy. If we lose that money, there will be places that close. And if people lose their childcare then they’ll likely leave the workforce,” said Evers. “It’s pretty simple. It’s obviously something that we have to work with the legislature on. We will have it in our next budget for sure.”

Evers says the funding for the Child Care Counts Program expires at the end of the next fiscal year and a replacement needs to be found. In fact, he thinks funding early childhood care and education is as important as funding K-12 schools.

“This is just as important. It gets kids off to a good start,” said Evers. “So having the state be part of that solution, I think, is really important. We slowly get more and more people understanding the importance of early childhood.”

PFAs

Governor Tony Evers is using his tour of childcare centers as a way to turn up the pressure on state lawmakers to release $125 million for PFAS pollution cleanup in the state. 

“It could be released today if the Joint Finance Committee wanted to do that,” Evers said. “For some reason, they seem to think that in their world it is more important for them to make no one accountable for this.”

State lawmakers are countering the Governor’s argument saying that Evers vetoed their plan to spend that money. Evers wants the companies responsible for the pollution to be held accountable and pay for the cleanup.

“There has to be some accountability! That’s how it worked out with paper companies in the Fox River Valley. So, I don’t see anything different there. In fact, I think it’s even more important that we hold companies accountable,” Evers said.