Kids Forward is dismayed but not surprised that our Supreme Court sided with Republican legislators and stopped the Governor’s efforts to protect lives in our state by extending the Safer at Home Order. The narrowly decided ruling will undoubtedly put more people at risk of getting sick, and has already caused great confusion throughout the state as counties and cities struggle with their next steps.

One thing is certain: regular people and their families, including those working in meat packing plants, grocery stores, and health care facilities, many of whom are from the most marginalized populations are going to get infected. Furthermore, immigrants are a critical part of the workforce industries that are vital to COVID-19 response efforts, and they are often overlooked or worse actively sabotaged.  

Kids Forward is calling on state legislators to, at a minimum, implement basic protections for workers who may now be expected to return to work. You can read more about these elementary safety measures here. Without these, any economic benefit will be short-lived and the spike in cases will likely set our state back even further.

Proceeding without a comprehensive, evidence-based state response to the pandemic will cause further and irreparable harm. State legislative leadership, which explicitly asked for the responsibility of protecting Wisconsinites when they sued the Evers administration, has not yet met nor have they announced any plans for statewide response to the current crisis.

At the federal level, Dr. Fauci and other experts warned a mostly-virtual Senate committee of the risks of reopening too wide and too soon. Even so, the Trump Administration is continuing its efforts to roll back health care protections for tens of millions of Americans by trying to overturn the Affordable Care Act. Under normal circumstances, access to affordable, effective health care can mean the difference between life & death. Eliminating the ACA now would be catastrophic. Despite the pandemic, Trump & 18 states still try to repeal Affordable Care Act.

Even with the coronavirus shifting many priorities, Kids Forward is still working to achieve equity in early learning. Kids Forward has created a baseline report. We know that ensuring equitable access to high quality child care for every child will better prepare them for educational and economic success in the future.