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In June 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Nestling House, a childcare center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was preparing to reopen after closing down in mid-March, like so many other childcare programs around the country. It would be a process, with some rooms ready before others, and the leadership team knew things would be different once the center reopened. 

Nestling House typically operated with a dozen staff who served over 30 children from age 6 weeks to 12 years old. But the program had lost almost half of its staff and some families stopped sending their children. 

鈥淲e were operating in pods, there was less staff. The hours were less. Everything felt like less,鈥� said Loryn Denny, the center鈥檚 executive director.

When the acute crisis had subsided and the center reopened, there were fewer children enrolled, but the leadership team decided to reduce rates to make the cost more affordable for remaining families, which resulted in lower revenue. 

Nestling House, like many other programs, was able to stay afloat with federal pandemic relief funding provided through the American Rescue Plan Act. In Wisconsin, the funds were distributed through , a program that sent monthly payments to the state鈥檚 providers. 

In addition to supporting the center鈥檚 operating costs, the additional funding allowed Nestling House to give its staff bonuses, buy new outdoor playground equipment and purchase a gently used school bus which they were able to use to shuttle kids to and from the center. 

When the ARPA funds originally dedicated to Child Care Counts , Wisconsin was able to stretch the funding and continue the payments . The state subsequently created , a temporary 12-month program that sends monthly stipends to providers based on enrollment and staffing, which will end on June 30.聽

After about six years of receiving these monthly payments, the shift will be a stark change for Wisconsin providers and programs, including Nestling House, which receives close to $4,000 a month in bridge payments, split between its two locations, according to Denny. The leadership team doesn鈥檛 have an immediate plan for how to make up the shortfall other than charging families higher rates or paying providers even less, neither of which they want to do. 

Nestling House will lose close to $50,000 per year, Denny said. One way to close the gap would be to add three additional infants to the full-time program, which would bring in about $21,000 a year each, but the program is already at capacity, and they have been as creative as possible with ways to add space. 

鈥淲e aren’t going to make up the money,鈥� said Jannelle Litos, the center鈥檚 enrollment and financial coordinator. 鈥淲e haven鈥檛 given substantial raises, we have held off and then given two bonuses which felt good. It would be nice to pay more 鈥� and hire more qualified people.鈥� Every year, she said, the team talks to a healthcare broker to see if Nestling House can afford to provide health insurance for employees, and every year they don鈥檛 have sufficient funds to do so.

鈥淢y fear is losing highly skilled staff because they can make more money and better benefits elsewhere,鈥� said Betsy Guerrero, a director at one of Nestling House鈥檚 two locations. 

In 2025, the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Wisconsin Department of Children & Families published a highlighting findings from a survey that asked childcare providers about what would happen if the Child Care Counts Stabilization Payments Program expired.

that providers anticipated negative impacts for their childcare programs, including trouble with staffing, lower compensation, higher tuition payments for families and a decrease in their ability to provide high quality care. A quarter of the providers surveyed said they were likely to close. 

At Nestling House, leaders are concerned that many of their staff may leave. 鈥淵ou get what you pay for. 鈥� If I am continually having to replace a quality hire with an untrained person, I am spending more time managing adults than curating the program,鈥� said Denny. 鈥淭he focus in childcare should be on the children in our opinion.鈥�

For Tamara Summerville, a home-based childcare provider in Milwaukee, the Child Care Counts payments have been core to her business model. She opened her program in December 2020, and began receiving the payments the following year. The monthly stipends allowed her to buy supplies, nutritional snacks and pay her staff more through bonuses. Even as her program鈥檚 enrollment fluctuated (as several children have changed residences through the state鈥檚 foster care system), the extra funds allowed her to consistently keep staff on hand. 

鈥淚 love kids. Especially in this community,鈥� Summerville said. 鈥淚 want to provide somewhere safe for them to be.鈥� She estimates that she brings in about $800 a month through bridge payments. 

鈥淐hildcare is not promising. It makes enough money to be sustainable, sometimes,鈥� said Summerville, but she explained that it’s not enough to make ends meet.

Wisconsin has benefitted from an historically large and there is 鈥渉uge discussion about what the dollars will get used on,鈥� said Sara Shaw, deputy research director at the Wisconsin Policy Forum. Shaw posits that the two main suspects for additional dollars would be increasing aid for K-12 schools and lowering property taxes, but an earlier deal and no plan emerged. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not clear where childcare is falling on the list of priorities, but the possibility is there,鈥� she said. 

Some that have gained attention in Wisconsin include expanding employer tax credits and and then directing some of the additional revenue toward early care and education.

Gov. Tony Evers is , so a new governor will be elected this fall. The change in leadership could impact where childcare falls in the list of state budget surplus priorities. But no immediate change is coming, so after June 30, providers will be left to figure out immediate stopgap solutions to stay open. 

鈥淚 don’t know if it’s possible to go back to things pre-COVID,鈥� said Shaw. Childcare has gotten more attention on the national level, and the influx of public funding has been widely proven to have a positive impact. When that funding dries up, the state’s childcare providers 鈥� including Nestling House and Summerville 鈥� will be left to figure out how to balance their budgets and stay open. 鈥淲hat we hear is that in order to continue competing they will need to raise prices, which is pricing out families, or close,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e will have to see what actually happens.鈥�

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