Gov. Tony Evers, together with the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families announced that Wisconsin Shares families will see an increase in their subsidy amount beginning in October.
More than $123 million was designated for the Wisconsin Shares Child Care Subsidy Program in the bipartisan 2025-27 Biennial Budget.
The maximum Wisconsin Shares subsidy rate will be at or above the price of 75 percent of child care slots. The increase, which went into effect today, will impact roughly 15,000 Wisconsin Shares families, with the average savings per family being around $174 per month.
The Wisconsin Shares Child Care Subsidy Program, which receives most of its funding from federal sources, supports eligible families by funding a portion of the cost of child care while the parents are working or participating in an approved activity.
Wisconsin met the legislative requirement for the maximum Shares rate to be at or above the price of 75 percent of child care slots for the first time in 2022, but with significant back-to-back increases in child care tuition prices as providers worked to fill the gap from reduced Child Care Counts Program payments, the buying power of the subsidy decreased.
In 2023, the maximum Wisconsin Shares rate was at or above the price of 50 percent of slots, and in 2025, it was at or above the price of just 41 percent of slots.
