MADISON, Wis. — For the first time, Wisconsin’s four leading child care associations are coming together to host a Child Care Gubernatorial Candidate Forum. The forum gives providers, parents, and voters across the state a chance to ask the candidates for Governor where they stand on one of the most pressing kitchen table issues facing Wisconsin families. The nonpartisan forum will be held Sunday, July 19, 2026, at IBEW 159 in Madison, and will also be available to watch online. 

The forum is organized by Heather Murray, owner of Arthouse Preschool, and sponsored by Wisconsin Early Childhood Association (WECA), Wisconsin Child Care Administrators Association (WCCAA), Wisconsin Family Child Care Association (WFCCA), and Wisconsin Head Start Association (WHSA).  

CONFIRMED CANDIDATES AS OF JUNE 8

  • Joel Brennan, President, Greater Milwaukee Committee 
  • David Crowley, Milwaukee County Executive 
  • Francesca Hong, State Representative 
  • Sara Rodriguez, Lieutenant Governor 
  • Kelda Roys, State Senator 

EVENT DETAILS

What: Child Care Gubernatorial Candidate Forum — a nonpartisan forum on the future of child care in Wisconsin 

When: Sunday, July 19, 2026. Doors open 3:30 p.m.; meet and greet 4:00 – 4:30 p.m.; forum begins 4:30 p.m. 

Where: IBEW 159, 5303 Fen Oak Drive, Madison, WI 53718 — with a virtual option to watch online 

RSVP: Required for both in-person and online attendance. Attendees may also submit a question in advance for the candidates. Register at bit.ly/child-care-forum-governor-candidates

WHY THIS MOMENT MATTERS

Across Wisconsin, families are struggling to find child care that is affordable, accessible, and high quality, while providers and educators work to keep their programs sustainable in a system that grows harder to navigate each year. Those pressures are about to intensify. Child care stabilization funding is set to end June 30, 2026, with no permanent state replacement in place. 

Polling shows that more than three-quarters of Wisconsinites support increasing state funding for child care, including nearly 79% of those without children. The demand for a solution is broad and bipartisan. 

Stabilization funding has supported 5,762 programs, 75,740 educators, and more than 430,000 children, and helped reverse a decade-long decline in licensed child care across the state. As that funding ends, roughly three-quarters of providers expect to raise tuition leaving many families facing $1,300 – $2,600 in additional annual costs per child and one in four providers report they are likely to close or significantly reduce services. 

With the future of child care funding unresolved heading into November, the forum gives candidates a direct opportunity to lay out a comprehensive plan that keeps providers open, tuition within reach for families, and fairly compensates the early care and education workforce that shows up every day for Wisconsin’s youngest children. 

“With Bridge Payments ending June 30, Wisconsin is at a crossroads. This forum is about making sure every candidate understands what’s at stake — and what it will take to build a child care system families can count on” said Ruth Schmidt, Executive Director, Wisconsin Early Childhood Association 

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

To RSVP or submit a question, visit bit.ly/child-care-forum-governor-candidates.  

ABOUT WECA

Wisconsin Early Childhood Association (WECA) is a leading statewide non-profit organization, founded in 1971, that advances comprehensive and transformational support of the early childhood workforce in Wisconsin. Its work is in service to the vision of a just Wisconsin where early care and education is viewed and invested in as a public good so all early educators, young children, families, and communities thrive.