A plan adopted by the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee Wednesday will help create the state’s first child care quality rating system.
Under the plan, the Department of Children and Families will implement a rating and rankings system for child care centers across the state. State Representative Tamara Grigsby (D-Milwaukee) says it will help parents pick the right provider.
Providers will receive Wisconsin Shares funding based on how they perform. Grigsby says the goal is to have a tiered reimbursement system, which will pay providers based on what star ranting they have. Those with less than a two-star rating will be cut off from Wisconsin Shares.
Grigsby says the program is designed to help troubled providers improve their rankings and to identify fraud in the system. She says those who are unable to improve probably shouldn’t be in business anyway.
Rankings for the first 12 counties will be available starting in January of next year. DCF will also have to develop a five-year plan for implementing the YoungStar ranking system statewide.
