The Milwaukee Common Council’s Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee recently passed a resolution that would require more strict assessments of child care centers wishing to operate within the city. The resolution, which was favored unanimously, would require that the Board of Zoning Appeals delay child-care permit licensing applications for 6 months (or use stricter processes) to ensure that centers are meeting certain quality measures. The resolution must be passed by the full Common Council before it will go into effect. Read the full article here.

All child care centers must be licensed by the state’s Department of Children and Families. DCF makes sure that each center meets Wisconsin’s regulation standards before administering a license. In Milwaukee, however, child care centers must also obtain a permit to operate through the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals. The pending resolution would make it much more difficult to obtain this permit. According to Alderman Joe Davis, “The state’s failure to properly review child care license applications and enforce state standards requires the city to act.” In a previous blog entry, WECA recommended that our current state regulation standards be coupled with effective monitoring and enforcement in order to produce high-quality care.