Gov. Evers Launches $110 Million in Direct Child Care Provider Payments, Avoiding Gap in Critical Assistance

MADISON — Gov. Tony Evers today launched the Child Care Bridge Payment Program, which will provide $110 million in monthly direct payments to Wisconsin child care providers through June 2026. This investment was made possible as part of a more than $360 million investment that Gov. Evers fought for and secured in the bipartisan, pro-kid biennial budget, signed into law earlier this month, to help stabilize Wisconsin’s child care industry and lower the cost of child care for working families. The quick work of the Evers Administration and the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families ensures there will not be any gaps in direct funding for child care providers caused by the winding down of the Child Care Counts Program.

In the months leading up to the final 2025-27 Biennial Budget, Republican legislative leaders indicated they had no intention of making any direct investments in child care providers statewide. Gov. Evers, who has been working to support child care providers and lower the cost of child care statewide for years, signaled that a budget without direct payments to child care providers was a non-starter and would force the governor to veto the budget if Republicans failed to include these critical funds. After months of negotiations with Republican leaders, Gov. Evers ultimately secured a $110 million investment for direct payments to child care providers in the 2025-27 Biennial Budget, delivering on his promise to ensure providers can continue to receive direct monthly payments to help pay their staff, keep their doors open and lights on, and continue providing high-quality care for Wisconsin’s kids and families. The final, bipartisan state budget enacted by Gov. Evers included more than $360 million to support Wisconsin’s child care industry and help lower child care costs for working families, a third of which is in direct payments to providers. A comprehensive list of budget investments and a summary of the governor’s partial vetoes is available here.

“I declared 2025 the Year of the Kid in Wisconsin, and ensuring this budget made real, meaningful investments directly in child care providers statewide was a nonnegotiable for me,” said Gov. Evers. “I’m proud our final budget makes this critical investment to continue our work to provide direct support to our state’s child care professionals who go above and beyond to ensure our kids have the high-quality care they need and deserve. I want to thank the folks at DCF for their hard work to get this program up and running to avoid any gaps in payments and ensure providers continue to receive this critical support without delay, and I look forward to continuing our work together to support child care providers statewide, to lower child care costs for working families, and to do what’s best for our kids.”

The Child Care Bridge Payments Program, provided through the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families, is similar to the wildly successful Child Care Counts Program, which was launched by Gov. Evers and the Evers Administration in 2020 and that helped more than 5,700 child care providers keep their doors open, ensuring the employment of more than 75,000 child care professionals and allowing providers to continue care for more than 430,000 kids. The Child Care Bridge Payments Program will provide the financial stability providers need to stay open, to recruit and retain qualified staff, and to continue providing high-quality care for Wisconsin’s kids.

The initial application window will open July 26, 2025, and close August 3, 2025, with additional opportunities to apply each month through June 2026. Direct payments will begin in mid-August. Wisconsin child care providers can find more information on how to apply on DCF’s public website.

“An investment in child care providers is a strategic investment in working families, our children, our workforce, and the economic vitality of our communities,” said DCF Secretary Jeff Pertl. “I am deeply grateful for Gov. Evers’ courage and commitment to doing what’s best for our kids and making child care an essential part of this budget. These payments will help ensure providers remain open so that young Wisconsin families are able to balance having a family while working and supporting our economy.”

Gov. Evers declared 2025 the Year of the Kid in Wisconsin and has made investing in the state’s child care industry to help fill available child care slots, cut child care wait lists, and lower the cost of care for working families a top priority of his administration and of this budget. In addition to the $110 million in direct payments to child care providers, the more than $360 million investment in child care included in the final 2025-27 Biennial Budget signed by Gov. Evers includes:

• $66 million to fund a new “Get Kids Ready” initiative, the first-ever entirely state funded child care program in Wisconsin state history, which will support child care providers serving four-year-olds to help prepare Wisconsin’s kids for kindergarten and get an earlier jump start on learning at a critical time in development;
  • The new first-of-its-kind program in Wisconsin is also designed to help ensure the state’s child care industry will receive sustainable, ongoing state investments into the future after Child Care Counts ends.
  • Kids in the program will be taught by child care providers using a curriculum that meets the Wisconsin model early learning standards.
• $2 million designed to help child care providers across the state build capacity to be able to cut child care wait lists and ensure more kids and families have access to affordable child care;
  • The grant will expand access to high-quality child care in the state, including launching an online software platform that is linked to the department’s website to connect child care providers with child care workers.
• $2 million intended to help bolster Wisconsin’s Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, which help parents find child care locally and provide training and technical assistance opportunities to child care providers;
• Over $123 million to increase rates under the Wisconsin Shares Child Care Subsidy Program to help lower out-of-pocket child care costs for working families across the state; and
  • The investment will raise rates for the Wisconsin Shares program to ensure Wisconsin meets its statutory obligation, designed to ensure families can access 75 percent of child care slots within a given geographical area and lower the cost of child care for parents.
• $28.5 million for a pilot program to help support expanding capacity across Wisconsin’s child care industry to ensure more families with infants and toddlers can access quality, affordable child care.
  • The proposal will increase payments to providers caring for infants and toddlers across the state through the Wisconsin Shares program.
  • Under the plan, providers would receive payments of $200 per month for every infant under 18 months and $100 per month for every toddler between 18 months and 30 months.
  • The investment will also help ensure more families and kids have access to affordable child care by helping providers accommodate more infants and toddlers under a new temporary pilot program aimed at aligning Wisconsin with peer states like Minnesota, enabling providers to care for seven toddlers between 18 and 30 months of age per staff member.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.