Good morning and welcome.
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If you're watching on the live stream, on Facebook, YouTube, and what used to be Twitter, got a jam-packed show coming up for you today.
In just a minute, we're going to welcome Ben Wickler, the chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.
After the 1030 news, we're going to talk about childcare, which is an ongoing issue here.
Corrine Hendrickson has a childcare center in northern Wisconsin.
She's going to join us.
After the 1030 news, they are having an event this Saturday in Ashland.
So if you're in that area and you are concerned about childcare, you may want to check that out.
Should be very, very interesting.
Next hour, federal money and your school district.
Donald Trump, of course, has talked about eliminating the Department of Education.
If that would happen.
Just how much money would your school district end up losing?
And where are they supposed to recover those funds that will be after the 11 o'clock news?
As we always do, we will lighten things up for the last half hour of the show with a segment we like to call Audio Sorbet.
So after the 1130 news, we're going to talk about
your favorite line from a movie.
What is your favorite movie line?
Something we started talking about with Don Rosen from WRJN.
He does the morning show over on WRJN and before he took off this morning we were kicking that around.
So we'll talk about your favorite movie lines and we will wrap it all up as we always do with this shouldn't be a thing.
Today it is the Bear With Me edition
That is all on the way.
But as we said, we're going to start off this morning with Ben Wickler, the chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party.
Good morning, Ben.
Thanks so much for joining us.
I am sure you have many, many, many things going on in what we're less than a week away from the from the April 1st election.
We have six days and then we wake up and it's election day.
This election has become a referendum on whether people like what
Donald Trump and Elon Musk are doing destroying Social Security, attacking the Veterans Administration, attacking the Department of Education, operating outside the Constitution and the law, whether we want a rubber stamp in Brad Schimel's hands, who has completely sold himself to Elon Musk and is essentially running on a promise to do whatever it is that Trump wants, even if Trump breaks the law.
Or if we want a fair, impartial, honest judge like Susan Crawford, who will apply the law equally to everybody, no matter how many billions of dollars they might have, that's essentially the question.
And then whether to have a total abortion ban in our state, which Brad Schimel seems to really want, we have just a handful of days left.
Elon Musk has poured $19.3 million into the Schimel campaign.
And Schimel is now running ads all the time using Musk money about how
Trump has endorsed him.
And if he claims that Susan Crawford would block Trump's agenda implying whatever it is that Trump wants to do, he'll support it.
So this is a very clear choice.
And I have to say the key to this is turnout.
It is getting people, recruiting people to go cast a ballot for Susan Crawford.
Yep, absolutely.
Early voting is underway right now.
So if you don't want to wait until Tuesday, you can go cast your vote today.
And if you're not sure where to go, go to myvote.wi.gov.
It's a wonderful resource.
Not only will it tell you where to go cast your ballot, it will show you what is on the ballot.
It has all of your elected officials.
all of their contact information, which I just think is nice to have in case you ever want to give him a friendly call.
But go to myvote.wi.gov and take advantage of it and make a plan now for how you're going to go vote next Tuesday.
If you're not going to vote early, then we've tried to encourage people to make it a thing and make it an event.
Get four friends with you who might not necessarily
have easy access to go vote.
Maybe you can all carpool together and then go get brunch or go do go do something.
But this is critically important.
And you had mentioned Brad Schimmel.
I was really stunned, Ben, when he came out and said that it is his role as a Supreme Court justice in Wisconsin to be a support for the Trump administration.
I didn't think that was in their job requirements.
Constitution, in the Wisconsin Constitution, there is something called separation of powers.
And the judiciary is supposed to be a check and a balance on the executive, meaning we don't have a king.
The king doesn't decide what's legal and what's not.
It is up to the courts to decide that.
And if a rogue president breaks the law, they need to be held accountable.
But Schimmel's just running ads all the time.
And musks, people are going around handing out these flyers that say,
that Schimmel will advance Trump's agenda.
And Schimmel is saying on the campaign trail that he'll be Trump's support network.
Like this is not the job.
Right.
And like this administration is ripping up our constitution in real time right now as it's attacking things that working families rely on across the country, across the state of Wisconsin.
So the idea that the state Supreme Court would just become another kind of henchman as Trump tramples social security.
Like that is, it makes me want to rip my hair out.
And this is.
The question that we get to the side, nowhere else in the country do people get to cast a ballot in this moment to determine whether the whole government will collapse under the Musk-Trump attack.
But here in Wisconsin, we can actually vote for Susan Crawford and ensure that we have a judiciary that understands that its job is not to follow the whims of right wing billionaires, but to serve the people and our Constitution.
I would say that one of the other things too, and because we all get the mailers, get the doorknocker, the things that are hanging on our doorknobs,
How little Brad Schimmel actually even matters in the equation, because everything I get for Brad Schimmel has a picture of Donald Trump on it.
It's not even Brad Schimmel, and it's always Donald Trump with a thumb in the air saying, Brad Schimmel will be the guy for Trump.
So really, I mean, if we could see, if there was any more proof that Brad Schimmel is just gonna be nothing but a conduit of the agenda, I think that's the proof right there.
As of this morning, literally they're running this ad that it starts with Trump endorsing, breaking news, Trump has endorsed Brad Schimmel, and then it ends with a shot of Trump surrounded by his cabinet signing some kind of executive order to attack the Department of Education or whatever it is.
And then the middle is a woman of Wisconsin saying, if Susan Crawford's elected, then all the good things Trump is doing might not trickle down to Wisconsin.
which is like, I don't think we want the things that Trump is doing to trickle down to Wisconsin.
The trickle is like corrosive acid destroying our state parks and cancer research and the airline administration and veterans administration.
And that is what we do not want to happen here.
Yeah, exactly.
And I don't think, Ben, that people disagree that there's not waste in government.
I think everyone can agree that, yes, there are probably things that...
things that could be pared down and pared back, but you don't do that by coming in with a chainsaw.
And yeah, and then and then a week later, hiring back the 25,000 people that you just let go without even knowing what jobs those people were essentially doing.
The US does this brilliant thing for generations.
We collect the seeds for all the different
types of wheat and all the different crops that keep you know Americans alive that feed families across this country in case some kind of blight arrives and destroys one then we have the backup alternatives but musk came in and fired the people responsible for keeping the seed bank so this is like just exposing us to you know future uh you know biblical pestilence or locust or whatever and these blights come all the time i read another thing yesterday someone was creating a better covid medicine
And then their clinical trial was shut down because the National Institutes of Health canceled their grant funding.
So this is like basic stuff about safeguarding humanity, safeguarding our food supply, safeguarding our health from viruses and diseases that spread over and over.
We know this happens.
We just had the COVID pandemic.
Musk is shutting down our ability to respond to crises.
And he's doing that with Trump's full support.
It is the most short-sighted, disastrous, stupid thing I've ever seen.
It's like a dentist operating with a chainsaw.
Well, and you make such a good point, though.
These do not seem like long term thinkers, long term planners.
They're not looking.
What could the possible ramifications be from this?
There doesn't seem to be that element in their decision making.
Not even a little bit.
And I.
But this is essentially, we have six days to get this right.
And if we can defeat Musk and Brad Schimmel in this election, then it sends a message to the whole country that no matter how much money Musk puts in, that voters are going to reject his agenda.
And that, my hope, could lead Republicans to actually stopping the march off the cliff that they're doing with Elon Musk at this moment.
Democrats are.
totally united against what Musk is doing.
What we need to do is show Republicans that their jobs are on the line.
And that is something that we can only do with the ballot box.
No matter what the polls say, if they think that Musk's fortune can get out of political jail free card for them, then Republicans will keep rubber stamping the stuff, including all six of Wisconsin's Republican members of Congress and Ron Johnson, who seems to love it.
So we have to win this election to send a message to the whole country that Musk has to be stopped.
He's out of control and Americans will not accept it.
If you're just joining us, Ben Wickler is our guest, the chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party.
You talk six days away, we go to the polls on April 1st with a number of important races.
The biggest one, the state Supreme Court race between Brad Schimmel and Susan Crawford.
Of course, we have the race for the person who will head up the Department of Public Instruction, either Jill Underly, the incumbent or Brittany Kinzer.
And then that constitutional amendment also on the ballot going back to Brad Schimmel's campaign.
We do have a little clip that that we wanted to play for you about one of the doorknockers Who is apparently going out on behalf of Elon Musk and being paid by a pack that is funded by Elon Musk?
Calvin do we have that little bit that clip ready, please?
Can you play that?
Yeah, you're like being paid by Elon Musk right now.
Yeah, I'm sorry.
Why are you saying sorry?
You
don't support you Brad Schimmel?
Okay, so I'm gonna say this I don't know much about anything like
Girl, this is just a job for me.
I'm just
here getting a check.
I'm not
who pays you guys.
So basically American pack.
That's who I work under is a company that's sponsored by Elamas and Donald
Trump.
So that's
who basically pays them.
So yeah, I'm just like, uh,
how much do you get paid?
Girl, I get paid like 25 an hour.
25 an
hour.
Cool.
Not enough money apparently to know what the candidate stands for when when Democrats send out door knockers because Democrats do this too.
Are your door knockers at least a little better educated about the candidate that they're purportedly supporting?
And these are people knocking in their own communities who.
do it because they care, because they know that Brad Chimmel is corrupt, that he gives you know, plea deals to child pornography defendants when the lawyers contribute to his campaign and didn't sue the opioid manufacturers and has now been doing whatever it is that Musk wants because he's pouring money into his campaign.
And they know that Susan Crawford is the kind of public servant that you actually want treating everyone equally who walks into the courtroom.
And they know that and they talk about it with voters.
And you know, I don't begrudge someone who needs to get a paycheck, you know, walk around.
But I think
What we can see here is exactly the kind of corruption and decay that happens when Musk is in charge of things.
He's doing that to the federal government.
He's doing that to this race.
Don't let him do it to Wisconsin Supreme Court.
We can
stop it.
Go vote early.
Go vote next Tuesday, April 1st.
Be a voter, baby.
Everybody who's anybody is a voter.
Ben Wickler is the chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party.
Thank you so much for your time, Ben.
Really appreciate it.
Stay close.
You were listening to Matt and Air on air.
This is the Civic Media Radio Network.
We'll be right back.
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So stay close and be tuned for that.
We were talking with Ben Wickler right before we went to the break and talking about the April 1st election.
Just six days away, Susan Crawford against Brad Schimmel for an open spot.
on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, Brad Schimmel, of course, will be there to support Donald Trump.
I didn't know that
was his job.
And that's the thing too, is like, we could say that and just be like, you know, whimsical about it, but it is, he has made it very clear.
Oh
yeah.
We're not assuming, we're not, we're not talking on a turn and we're not making a deal.
He has said this will be a judgeship in
service to Donald Trump.
Exactly.
Again, I didn't think that was his job.
Ollie from the Northwoods is on the line.
Good morning, Ollie.
Thank you for joining us.
What do you want to say about this?
Well, I hope you have time for just a couple of quick things.
When I listened in the morning, I heard a ad for Brad Schimmel, and it specifically lies about Susan Crawford wanting to get rid of the...
the voter ID, nowhere on any of the shows she's been on have I heard her say that.
And also, I want to make a point to all the Wisconsin voters that do we really want Trump's support of BS or Elon Musk paying for BS's campaign
here in Wisconsin, given the way that they are destroying the country, that should be a big red flag for all of us not to vote for
Schimel.
Yep.
I appreciate it, Ollie.
Thank you so much.
Really appreciate you listening.
Yeah, again, I am disturbed by this, and I know one of our listeners asked yesterday,
What about when when people say well, you know George Soros George Soros is backing Susan Crawford and he he spends millions Elon Musk has spent 19 million dollars George Soros, I believe has spent about two and
which is probably the same amount that the Elans have spent on the other side.
And it does bring up a conversation about big money and politics and elections.
And we all can talk about that till we're blue in the face, but unfortunately, Citizens United is a thing.
Therefore they can donate.
But George Soros also doesn't have interest in Wisconsin.
He doesn't
have a court case right now.
Exactly.
So you can get all sore about Soros, but this is not anything unusual for him.
The fact that Elon is dumping nearly $20 million
into a race where he has a vested interest.
That should say something, but I know that no one will care because when you say Soros, like, oh, that's right.
He's paying people to be agitators.
No, he's not.
There's no proof of that whatsoever.
Not at
all.
In fact, if anything, it's Elon Musk who's paying people to knock on doors for Brad Schimmel.
And we just heard a clip saying so.
These people do not know what Brad Schimmel stands
for.
They're not his supporters.
They're
doing it for a job.
Good paying job.
20 bucks and out where
that's not bad.
Yeah, I'm still waiting for the pay stubs from everyone who's been paid off by George Soros.
We still haven't seen any evidence of that.
But you know, I just real quickly because it amuses us and for no other reason than that.
Wisconsin Senior Senator Ron Johnson.
We never see him in Wisconsin, but he's all over Fox News and podcasters.
And Ron Johnson took time to talk to Charlie Kirk.
about Wisconsin Supreme Court race.
Calvin, we have that clip.
Let's play that clip, please, from a Wisconsin senior senator who no one ever sees here in Wisconsin.
Dan Kelly.
What?
Shimmel.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And his opponent.
Yeah, uh, Susan Crawford, who will be a judicial activist, but some of who will legislate from the bench will first redistrict the federal, the congressional seats.
We'll probably lose a couple of seats from that standpoint.
Now, then the next thing they'll do is overturn act 10.
They'll cost Wisconsinites hundreds of millions, not billions of dollars over over the time, probably overturned voter ID.
We may never have another free and fair election in Wisconsin.
We'll certainly never clean up our voter rolls.
There's so much there
find me the commercial find me the piece of literature find me the interview find me anything where Susan Crawford says she's gonna do any of those things and then I will show you every piece
of media that shows that Brad Shim will be nothing but a Trump-loving activist judge looking to deconstruct and destroy everything we've done the past two years.
Without a doubt.
Stay with us.
We have news coming up next.
When we come back, we're talking childcare in Wisconsin.
Kareen Hendrickson is going to join us.
The owner of Kareen's Little Explorers Family childcare.
There's an event coming up that if you are in the area, you want to make plans to attend.
That's all on the way.
Stay close.
You are listening to Matt Nair on air on the Civic Media Radio Network.
Good morning and welcome to Matt and air on air Jane Matt and air Greg box sweet Cal B on the board coming to you from our studio here at Radio Park in Racine you can always join us call or text the number is the same 855-752-4842 leave a comment if you're watching on the live stream on Facebook YouTube and what used to be Twitter don't forget our break into spring text text to win statewide contest is underway you have a chance
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really looking forward to talking to our next guest.
She runs the Kareen's Little Explorers Family Childcare.
There is an event coming up this Saturday from 9.30 to 11 about childcare in Wisconsin and just how important it is.
Kareen Hendrickson is joining us once again.
Good morning, Kareen.
Thanks for being here.
Absolutely.
So the
funding that we have in place right now for the child care counts program.
That's going to come to an end at the end of July.
Can you explain, Corrine, what that would mean for you and so many other daycare providers in Wisconsin?
So right now, our state invests $0 of state dollars in our budget, all of the childcare system that includes pre licensing, our licensors, the way for parents to find us, all the things is federally funded, including our subsidy system for children at low income.
So we have had this childcare accounts program because during COVID it was revealed on how big of a deal it is to have access to childcare to those in power because somehow us women in charge don't
know anything, I guess.
And so we were able to take that funding and the department worked with us to best allocate it.
We were one of the states that did it through wages to increase wages so that we could stay in business so that we could hire, recruit, retain quality people.
And without that funding.
I have to raise my rates $30 a week.
I've already had parents tell me they don't know that they can afford that because I already have raised my rates 65 a week from over a year ago because the funding was cut and not replaced.
And some other things kind of happened in inflation, like all the costs are going up.
And so without this funding being put into our state budget for the first time, have any state dollars in the state budget to invest in childcare,
We're looking at mask closures.
We're looking at tuition increasing substantially.
We're talking 10, 20, 30 percent, some places that would be as much as 50 a week per kid.
Parents already can't afford it.
So those of us who don't close right away may try to hold on.
But when we increase our tuition and we lose just a few families, we then no longer can stay open and we will close.
So even those who make enough to afford that extra will still lose their access to care.
Even those employers who have paid their employees are able to pay their employees well enough.
they will still lose employees because those people will no longer have access to care.
So we're looking at a disaster.
And I think it's important for folks to realize, because I can imagine some people listening going, well, you know, that's too bad.
You can't afford it.
Then mom just stays home.
And mom stays home with the kids.
But if mom is working and most people are too, both adults are working in the household.
That's just the way the economy is working and has been working for a long time.
you are pulling this person out of a working economy that has ramifications too.
If they don't have kids, they don't think it matters.
Well, guess what?
When your doctor or dentist no longer has the people they need to keep functioning, you now no longer have access to those appointments.
Your favorite restaurant, there's limited hours in so many places because of the lack of childcare and over 70% of women with children under five work.
And we still have lost ground and we still haven't made it up.
Wisconsin was always a leader in women in the workforce.
And it's because we want to be
in the workforce.
It's not that we don't want to be, we want to be.
So you're also taking people who want to be outside of the home and spend time with their kids still, but enjoy their time with their kids.
And we're forcing them to stay home in an environment that they feel more secluded and away from other people.
They don't have the support systems.
And so then we're looking at what's happening to that woman, what's happening to those children, what's happening to that family unit, or you end up with parents trying to work first, second, third shifts opposite of each other.
And that destroys a marriage and a relationship.
So we're looking at
that economic, we're looking at family, we're looking at all the things that make our communities important.
And it's such an obvious solution to the rest of the world.
Everybody else uses our data and they make it and they pay for it.
And yet we don't use our own to justify, verify whatever it is that needs to happen for those in power to decide that investment is a good idea.
Our state already loses $2 billion a year economically because we do not invest in childcare.
And this will just make it worse.
It's just frustrating for me.
I'm sorry.
I don't have a question so much as it's frustrating.
We talk about this all the time.
These are, this is just one of many topics that Wisconsin taxpayers, parents, grandparents even who have to deal with child care.
These are the things they struggle with every day.
Meanwhile in Madison, they're like, well, we should talk about voter ID.
That seemed, I mean, I can't imagine someone in your position who not only an advocate for this cause, but you work in the industry.
constantly beating on a door saying, well, no, this isn't a, it's important in a speech.
It's important in front of a camera, but it's not important in the, it's not important on the floor where these, where these facts are being debated.
And it just really makes me, it makes it hard for me to believe that these individuals and men are like pro, call themselves pro family.
Exactly.
Well, but it is it's it's we love babies.
We love mothers.
We love all these things.
Well, great.
What do you do for these babies after they're born?
Well, yeah, then you're kind of on your own.
You better get a job picking something in a field somewhere.
You're five.
It's time.
Especially your Florida.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's a whole other story.
If you're just joining us, Kareen Hendrickson is our guest and she is the owner of Kareen's Little Explorers.
family child care.
Karine, there's an event going on this Saturday from 9 30 to 11 at Treetop Child Development Center and preschool.
Can you tell us a little bit about that event and what's going to be happening then?
And so my colleague and co-founder of Wisconsin Early Childhood Action needed Brooke Legler and I started doing these presentations in Green County with our child care network with actually the Mental Health Matters Committee.
So we tie together how mental health, children's development, brain development, the workforce and the importance of the teachers and the adults that are working for and caring for and educating with these children get paid a decent wage so that they can stay and that they can meet the
those needs of the kids.
And we talk about like, when we we've now taken the statewide, we did one in Fond du Lac, I've done one in one with Tosa.
And we're working with a few other people across the state to support them.
So we're encouraging our weekend members to do them on their own.
But most are like, come with because you can answer the national and the bigger question.
I'm like, Okay, but really, when I go, I'm in a supporting role and that
the lead is the people in that community because it's their community, they know it best.
So we actually have superintendent of the Ashland School District, Rob Prater speaking, and Marie Kaye.
Kate Nabazny, sorry if I butchered that, from workforce development and a parent are all going to be speaking and sharing their stories too.
So it's incredibly important for these community conversations to be having, to talk about childcare and how it interacts with the community.
And basically, I say we're the spoke in the wheel of the foundation of our entire economy.
That childcare is, whether it's a paid person doing it, you know, like I do, Family Child Care or Group Center or if it's the parents staying home with their own child, we have to support the fact that women
have been putting too much on our backs for too long without being paid or, you know, we're told and patting on our heads like, Oh, you're so great.
This is wonderful.
You know, thanks, you know, keep smiling pretty or whatever.
Yeah.
No, no man would ever do this.
Why do we do it?
So we really are trying to have these conversations and talk about solutions, real solutions, not throw more children in room because they're not widgets, they're people, you know, and really having these conversations and getting in depth and
You know, again, like to Greg's point, yes, they keep saying it's an issue.
It's a problem.
We have to solve it.
But then they throw these things that are absurd and nobody wants.
as the solution.
And then when we try to say, well, this isn't why, then they say, well, you just want to hand out.
And we're like, you give handouts all the time to all these other groups, and they are true handouts.
You are not expected to raise wages.
You are not expected to do anything.
You don't have to do audits or prove yourself.
You just get it, because I don't know, because you're a man.
Well, I'm not going to sit there and go, I'm not going to give them that.
But I will say, well, when it's a company and those companies can write big checks,
Who doesn't
love a check?
Elon Musk gets billions and billions of dollars from the U.S.
government.
Billions of dollars.
It's more like
handouts than anybody.
Seriously, and I'd love to know how much auditing they are doing with all of this money that like Elon and all these other big corporations get.
That's our money.
Kareen Hendrickson is our guest and we're talking about childcare in Wisconsin.
There's an event this Saturday in Ashland.
We will include this in our show notes.
If you live in that area and you
like to attend.
Something else that I have learned in talking to you, Karine, is just how important those early years are for little kids, for munchkins, and the interactions with other children, the things that they can learn from birth to five.
There's a lot going on in those in those early years.
90% of brain development happens in those first five years, and those neural connections in the brains happen by having relationships with other people, with the caring adults.
A lot of times we don't like to talk about this, but sometimes that only caring adults that's consistent in a child's life is their child care educator.
And so we are a buffer also for these children, and we are consistent.
And then we also are the connection for the parents.
So when the parents have questions about raising their child, if the parents want to know how they can be a better parent, we are also working with the parents and helping them so that they can have a better relationship with their child.
And so sometimes poverty, accidents, diseases, things.
happen in families and we are that consistent person.
And then when you are paying us $13 an hour for group centers, I make around eight bucks an hour as a family child care.
And then you're having to work extra hours and extra jobs so that you can keep a roof over your own head.
How are you then able to work with those kids in a way that you need to work with them?
How do you have the patience?
And so we're basically setting up the adults for failure.
We're setting up the children for failure in our society as well.
And now there's more and more news things coming out saying like, you know, more and more
Like child cares are having issues with getting written up, losing their license.
It's be cut.
And then, of course, the excuse is, well, you're terrible.
You don't deserve the funding.
No.
The reason that we're having the issue is because we can only pay around 12, 13 bucks an hour.
There are no benefits.
So we can't get quality people who can do the job, who can be trained, who have mentors that can help them stick around.
And then you end up with a warm body.
Right.
And you end up putting children and adults into situations that are untenable and unfair.
And so really,
looking at like, it's a societal systemic issue.
This is not a personal issue.
This is not something that is going to be like pull yourself by the bootstraps and you can fix it yourself.
It is a systemic failure.
And it's something that we need to be more.
accountable to and have the guts to say it does not have to be this way.
And that's a lot of what these conversations are about and why we do that is to help people understand it does not have to be this way.
So stop and do something better and different.
Well, and stop coming up with legislation that is that is a solution in search of a problem.
We have problems right now that could use some solutions.
Maybe you should focus on some of that stuff instead of what might happen down the road potentially possibly maybe we're going to continue our conversation with
with Kareem Hendrickson.
I believe, wait, I'm almost positive.
Some of our lawmakers are sitting on money that should already have been distributed to childcare centers.
Does that sound accurate?
We'll find out on the other side.
Stay with us.
You're listening to Matt Nair on air on the Civic Media Radio Network.
We'll be right
back.
That your elders grew high And so please help them with your need They see the truth before they can die
Teach your parents well That children's health Will slowly go by and feed
Them on your dreams The one they picked The one you know by Don't you ever ask them why If they told you you would cry So just look at them and sigh
Good morning and welcome back to Matt and air on air Jane Matt and air Greg Bach doctors slide on the board committee from our studio here at Radio Park in Racine join us caller text at 855-752-4842 leave a comment if you're watching on the live stream
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Mathed with, mathed with Jane Matten there.
So download the Civic Media app.
wherever you get your apps.
We're talking to Karine Hendrickson.
She knows how to math because she runs a childcare center and there is a special event coming up this Saturday in Ashland, the critical role of childcare in our community.
From 9 30 to 11, Karine owns Green's Little Explorer's Family Childcare and talking about really how critically important it is to all of us and to our economy.
to have a system that works for working parents.
One thing I did see, Karine, and correct me if I'm wrong, because we were talking about only federal dollars right now, go to support childcare in Wisconsin, no state dollars do, but Wisconsin's famous joint finance committee is sitting on several million dollars intended for childcare, and yet that money has not yet been distributed.
Is that accurate?
And actually there was $15 million put in the last state budget.
And it was put towards the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation to do with what they wanted after Governor Evers vetoed the loan program and turned it into a grant.
And then also they tried to reverse that.
legislatively and turn it back into a loan and all of us showed up to testify and say that's not what we want.
That's not what we need.
It's not going to do any good.
If you're looking at people getting into family childcare, it's hard enough to get started.
You're not going to take on the debt of right, you know, a loan and plus like how am I paying this back?
Right.
You give out grants all the time to expand, whatever.
And so the WEDC asked the joint finance committee to make it into, to add it to the childcare accounts pot.
And what that would do is it actually would extend it either by a month and a half, or it would actually add to the amount that we get each month for the last few months.
And it's just sitting there.
And Senator Marklein is the co-chair of the JFC.
And he's actually my senator.
We did get a meeting with him this last Wednesday as a Green County Child Care Network.
We've been asking him for a long time to come to our things, to our meetings and to meet with us.
And he did meet with us for an hour.
And we talked about our books.
We showed him our budgets.
We talked to him about tuition.
We had two parents come that actually said they cannot find work because they don't have childcare.
And so having the real people have that conversation and having our day.
educators in the classroom where they are talking to him about how hard it is to only make so much money an hour and how they're likely going to leave as soon as there's child interest kindergarten and go work for the school because then they get benefits and get paid better and wouldn't need the wraparound care.
And so it was a really decent conversation and we did bring up a lot of investments and why it's needed and how this will help the parents and how it will open up more spots.
So I'm hoping that he did listen and that he took note and that maybe there's some.
I hope that something will happen.
But as far as the 15 million, it's still sitting there.
I haven't heard anything.
It's in the, at any point, Senator Markline or in co-chairborn could put it on an exec session and they could pass it.
And so by them not doing it, it makes me very curious how this is going to shape up this summer in the budget, because if they can't even bring themselves to put $15 million towards us, what's going to happen next?
So.
Cassandra on the live stream said, our rep Dave Murphy suggested to a daycare owner that we need to loosen restrictions on in-home daycare providers.
And that just, it, once again, as we were talking about earlier, you're giving, so you're not, these are not solutions.
These are just, do this.
Try this, try this thing.
Anything not to give you money, but let the four year olds take care of the two year olds.
It's fine.
Yeah, tell me you've never set foot in a family child care without telling me because that is exactly what that is to me.
And again, loosening restrictions is actually a problem.
Other states have, they've loosened their ratios, they've loosened the amount of number of children you can have maximum, and it's affecting us in Wisconsin because now we cannot get homeowners insurance to cover us if we watch one child.
So even if other states are doing this, it's hurting us.
And so we're getting dropped by liability insurance companies left and right because the liability is going up because of all these deregulatory.
Because children are hurt, children are dying.
It is happening.
That's why we have the rules and regulations.
And so because of that, it's affecting my liability insurance.
And luckily, my homeowners does keep us.
But I've heard multiple people getting letters from their homeowners saying they'll no longer cover you.
for your home if anything happens to your home.
This doesn't even include the kids.
I'm sorry, I'm just processing that.
I have to take a moment.
I give a mark line credit for being brave enough to show up because so many of them just don't even have the courage to do that.
But yet it disturbs me that
This information you provided to him was like revelatory and he's never heard this before.
This isn't a new issue.
This isn't something that's coming out of nowhere.
Nobody saw this coming.
This has been a problem for a long time.
And then also, I don't know how much like we all are writing and talking to the staffers.
It does.
I don't know what's been able to go through in the meantime.
And so it was great that he did come to us.
And I think all of our representatives should be doing
that.
Kareen Hendrickson has been our guest.
Thank you so very, very much, Kareen.
We will put
All of the relative and related information into our show notes, you can check it out at civicmedia.us.
Karine, really appreciate your time.
Thank you so much.
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