Eau Claire Child Care Center Hosts Governor Tony Evers Visit

EAU CLAIRE, Wis (WCFW) – An Eau Claire childcare facility played host to Governor Tony Evers on Monday as he calls for more childcare funding in the state budget.

Governor Evers and Wisconsin Department of Children and Families Secretary Jeff Pertl visited The Kiddie Patch Early Learning Center in Eau Claire. The facility has received over $460,000 in funding through the Child Care Counts program since 2020. Facilities throughout Eau Claire County have received a total of over $24 million dollars through the program.

Without additional funding in the next biennial budget, the Child Care Counts program will end on June 30. Remaining facilities will also see increased demand and parents may need to consider leaving the workforce or finding remote jobs.

“It’s good for kids,” said Governor Evers. “But even if you don’t care about kids, and I think everybody does but if you don’t, it’s important for our economy. If places like this close up, somebody is staying home with those kids. And that takes one more person out of the workforce.”

Governor Evers has also made multiple visits to child care centers in the region over recent months. In February, he visited Western Dairyland Head Start in Eau Claire amid federal funding freezes. He echoed many of the same sentiments as his previous visits on Monday, saying a failure to invest in child care will negatively impact both families and the overall workforce. His biennial budget proposal included $442 million in funding for child care programs across the state.

Asked about common themes from those visits, Governor Evers said “They’re all saying the same thing. We’re going to go broke if we don’t get some money.”

During another visit on Monday, Governor Evers said he would not sign a state budget that does not fund the Child Care Counts program.