WFCCA strongly opposes the new policy that would abruptly cut payments to licensed family child care providers serving low-income children subsidized by Wisconsin Shares without a public hearing or any other means of soliciting input. The directive to cut provider payments through an "attendance-based-only policy" threatens to undermine the financial stability of family child care businesses and the families they provide services to as well as threaten the availability and accessibility of quality care to the children who need it most, including children with disabilities.
Basis for this position:
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It is standard practice for parents to pay a weekly "tuition" for a slot in a licensed child care program.
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By switching to attendance-based payments, the full cost of a child care space would not be covered and low-income parents would have to pay for the unpaid days.
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The burden of an additional child care expense when a child is ill, or for other reasons, cannot attend is often more than these parents can bear. This leads to bad debt with providers, often causing them to choose to no longer serve these families.
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There is no correlation between this policy and fraud prevention as it does nothing to discourage falsifying attendance records, if anything it promotes it.
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DCF is exercising their authority unilaterally, with no input from legislators, consumers, providers or experts in the field.
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The WI Shares program is actually UNDER budget, so there should be no immediate need for cost saving measures.
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