MADISON, WI — Senator Melissa Ratcliff (D-Cottage Grove) held a press conference at the now closed Learning Ladder Child Care and Preschool alongside her Democratic colleagues on the Joint Finance Committee—Senator Kelda Roys (D-Madison), Representative Deb Andraca (D-Whitefish Bay), and Representative Tip McGuire (D-Kenosha)—to call for urgent and sustained investment in Wisconsin’s child care system.
Speaking from inside the once vibrant classrooms of Learning Ladder, where toddlers played and teachers led engaging lessons, the lawmakers emphasized the growing crisis facing working families and providers due to chronic underfunding and the Republican majority’s refusal to prioritize child care in the 2025–27 state budget.
“Wisconsin’s economy doesn’t work if families can’t work,” Senator Ratcliff stated. “And families can’t work if they don’t have access to safe, affordable, available, high-quality child care. The state’s refusal to make meaningful investments in this system is not only hurting parents—it’s hurting our workforce and our future.”
The Democratic members of the Joint Finance Committee outlined the economic consequences of child care shortages, including staffing challenges across the sector, and warned that many providers are being forced to raise prices or shut down altogether. They criticized the Republican-controlled legislature for rejecting Governor Evers’ proposed child care funding increases and ending the successful Child Care Counts program.
Democrats on the Joint Finance Committee are bringing forward a motion that meets the scale of this crisis with real funding for providers and support for parents struggling to stay in the workforce.
