Wisconsin's Child Care Bridge Payments Program Expire this Week

Wednesday, July 1st, 2026 -- 12:00 PM

(Wisconsin Radio Network) The state’s Child Care Bridge Payments program for providers expires this week, and Wisconsin Early Childhood Association Executive Director Ruth Schmidt says families and policy makers will need to make decisions, with families having a more difficult time finding care for their pre-K children.

According to the Wisconsin Radio Network, Schmidt says the end of the bridge payment will exacerbate a shortage of qualified early childhood educators in Wisconsin. She believes state lawmakers ought to consider some sort of a public investment and acknowledge that the entire state relies on there being a healthy system of child care.

The Bridge Payments program was established when the earlier Child Care Counts pandemic-era stabilization program was set to expire about a year ago but is now ending with nothing to replace it.

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