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Local child-care provider warns county board that temporary $13-per-hour wage boost faces July cutoff

4785522 · June 17, 2025
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

An Eau Claire child-care provider told the county board that temporary pandemic-related wage supplements that raised many child-care workers' pay to about $13 per hour are due to end, and warned the loss could shrink child-care slots and push families out of the workforce; she invited supervisors to local rallies and events.

Julia Benkert, a home-based early childhood teacher from Eau Claire, urged the county board during public comment to consider the consequences if temporary pandemic-era wage supports for child-care staff are not extended at the state level.

"Right now, teachers are making $13 an hour average, with the funding that's supporting it," Benkert said, adding that without the funding the average had been about $10 an hour before pandemic supplements. She told the board the funding that sustained the higher wages is…

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