06/29/2026
Sen. Jeff Smith discusses childcare at community roundtable
By Matthew Baughman, Leader-Telegram staff
Jun 25, 2026
Childcare roundtable photo
Community members, Sen. Jeff Smith (D-Brunswick) and Democratic Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) discuss childcare challenges in Eau Claire.
Staff photo by Matthew Baughman
EAU CLAIRE — During a community roundtable Thursday, Democratic representatives, community members and childcare professionals talked about many of the challenges facing childcare.
The discussion was led by Sen. Jeff Smith (D-Brunswick) and State Democratic Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) while visiting Eau Claire.
During the beginning of the discussion, childcare business owners and professionals working within the industry talked about the challenges faced in retaining workers and continuing to find employees who can help offer quality services. One speaker said the loss of an adult in a child’s life is a grief moment, and moments like those have the potential to stay with someone into school and early adulthood.
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Renee Ernsting, director of Child Care Partnership (CCP), said, “The biggest challenge that we’re facing right now is the low wages, which then makes it that we have to hire constantly because people are not staying in the positions. And so, therefore we have this instability for children. We’re super concerned about the mental health implications of having people coming in and out of children’s lives on a regular basis.
“Those low wages are just pushing so many problems to all of the communities really in the western Wisconsin.”
Part of the discussion touched on how this challenge also touches on larger financial difficulties. With smaller profit margins, they say there is less “wiggle room” to be able to afford the quality pieces many childcare and daycare facilities would like to have.
“Onboarding for child care is tricky because there’s a lot of training that needs to happen, and that training can be expensive,” Ernsting said.
“There’s a lot to cover in health and safety before you can even start to talk about classroom management and those kinds of things. And if you don’t have the classroom management down, then you’re going to lose that person, because that’s tough. When you have that many children in your care, you really have to have some skill and some training on that.”
The challenges also come at a time of rising costs, where young families have to consider the cost of enrolling their child into a daycare.
In their annual Child Care Market Survey, the Wisconsin Department of Parents and Families showed infant childcare for the median urban Wisconsin household costs roughly $1,587 a month. For rural households, it is roughly $978 a month.
“Parents can’t afford to pay more,” Ernsting said. “They’re already paying more than their mortgage in many of the areas that I’m dealing with, and so you can’t put it all on child care.”
Thursday’s discussion also came as the state’s Child Care Bridge Payments are set to expire on June 30.
Smith said even though they have these conversations often, continuing to hear people’s lived experiences is important to legislators so they know what is happening.
“We’re coming to a head here where we’re going to lose funding that has been supporting child care for the last few years,” he said. “It’s time now. We’ve tried over that period of time to turn that money into something permanent, and we were not able to do that in the legislature.”
When discussing what could be done at the state level, funding was touched on by the roundtable attendants as being intentional with financial support may help to deliver child care.
Hesselbein said, “You don’t always know what each kid needs, and making sure that we have those positive development opportunities for kids when they’re younger, that’s going to pay off in the long run.”
Smith said, “They’re really important services. So hopefully when we get back, we’re going to be able to provide funding that becomes a permanent solution. On top of the fact, not just a daycare center, but we heard other solutions about family resource centers and mental health services that also lost their funding, and we need to go back and realize the importance of them and fund them.”
Aside from Democratic leaders, Wisconsin Republicans have primarily advocated for deregulation as a solution to childcare affordability rather than increased state funding.
The current legislative session has wrapped up, as the next one will open in January of 2027. In the upcoming general election in November, state legislators will be up for election for their respective districts.
Smith currently seeks reelection to Wisconsin State Senate District 31. Republican candidate Michele Magadance Skinner will also appear on the Nov. 3 ballot running in the same district.
EAU CLAIRE — During a community roundtable on Thursday, Democratic representatives, community members and childcare professionals talked about many of the challenges facing childcare.The discussion was led by Sen. Jeff
