'It's a great start': Gov. Evers touts child care investments in budget bill during visit to Milwaukee

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) — Governor Tony Evers started his Monday morning in Milwaukee, touting investments laid out in his $111 billion biennial budget that was signed last week.

The governor visited JO's Learning Academy in the Washington Heights neighborhood, hearing from early childhood educators.

Schnell Price-Lambert has run JO's Learning Academy for 28 years, after her mother started the program in 1967.

"I started off two blocks down in a home with a family child care center," Price-Lambert said. "It's important to have family, it's important to have group centers, but it's really important - the quality."

It's now a large Head Start center with two city locations, serving hundreds of families.

She says the 2025-2027 budget's $360 million investment in child care will help centers like hers provide better early education.

"That means more quality teachers that we'll be able to hire, more quality funding programs that we'll be able to offer our community," Price-Lambert said. "At the end of the day, it's all about children and families."

Governor Evers says the bill will lower child care costs for working families and give direct payments to providers.

"I think it's really important that all kids, no matter what their background is, how rich their parents are or aren't, should get something real positive around early childhood," he said.

Democratic state Senator LaTonya Johnson joined Evers to tour the center Monday.

"We know that the data says the earlier you invest in kids, the more likely they are to be successful throughout adulthood," she explained.

Despite championing the child care investment, Johnson voted against the final budget bill, wanting to see more general aid for public schools.

"It's not the ideal budget, it's not something I definitely would have introduced as a Democrat, but it is a true bipartisan package," she explained. "Everybody had something in this budget they could be proud of."

Evers said although it isn't perfect, he believes it is a great start.

"It's good to finally have this first step. I know there might be some concerns that it isn't perfect, but I'll tell you a lot of things in the world aren't perfect," he said. "It is a great start for Wisconsin, and it's important to have high-quality opportunities for our little kids."

Now that the budget is passed, we asked Evers if he will soon announce whether he'll run for a third term.

He said he may share his decision in a couple of weeks.