Save the Child Care Scholarship and the Credential Program for Providers in Maryland

On behalf of the Maryland childcare providers and families we serve, we respectfully urge you to restore funding to the Maryland Child Care Credential Program and to prevent cuts to the Child Care Scholarship. The Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) has proposed to lower provider reimbursement rates for the Child Care Scholarship program, as well as enacting an enrollment cut and freeze to the number of children able to receive those scholarships. We need your support to ensure that funds remain available to address the overwhelming need for child care providers to access this vital financial aid and to ensure our most vulnerable families are able to access to essential scholarship funding.

What needs to happen to save the Child Care Credential Program:
•	Ensure the mandated funding for the program is included in the final FY26 Budget to ensure all providers who qualify are able to access the Program in the coming year. 

The Maryland Child Care Credential Program recognizes individual child care providers who increase their qualifications beyond the requirements of state licensing and registration regulations. Individuals may be awarded an achievement bonus, training reimbursement, or training voucher. The FY2023 budget included $5,170,000. In FY2024, funding for the program was to increase by 10% over the prior fiscal year.  The program went unfunded in FY2025, but legislation was passed in the 2024 legislative session mandating funding for the program in the FY2026 budget. Unfortunately, this funding was not included in the proposed FY26 Budget, nor in the FY 26 Budget Reconciliation Financing Act (BRFA).The Credential Program is essential to the viability of many Maryland childcare businesses who serve families across the state. The loss of this workforce initiative, which is included in the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, will have negative repercussions for the over 55,000 people who work in early childhood education and will directly impact over 20,000 participants in the workforce.

What needs to happen to save the Child Care Scholarship Program:
•	Ensure sufficient funding for the program is included in the final FY26 Budget to ensure all children and families who qualify are able to access the Program in the coming year. 
•	Restore the provider reimbursement rate within the program is restored to the current 70%.
•	Pass the For Our Kids Act (HB1469) which would provide an additional $50 million to the Scholarship Program as a way to bolster the program without an additional draw on State funds.

The Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) recommended the Child Care Scholarship (CCS) Program enact an enrollment freeze in May 2025 and a cap of 40,000 slots moving forward due to the program’s success in helping families and the overwhelming need across the state for this essential financial aid. Capping the program at 40,000 spots would mean that 86% of the children who are eligible for the scholarship would be locked out of the program. The Child Care Scholarship Program is a lifeline for Maryland families who need to work, participate in training programs, and further their education. These child care scholarships provide critical funds for single parents, mothers in the workforce who often must choose between a job and child care, and Maryland’s most overburdened families. 

The CCS is also vital to the viability of many Maryland child care businesses who serve Scholarship families. Unfortunately, MSDE has also recommended a decrease in the reimbursement rates for providers who accept scholarship children from 70% to 60%. Costs have continued to rise and this decrease could result in providers needing to close their doors. Without adequate reimbursement rates  from the state, child care programs that directly impact access to consistent, affordable child care for working Marylanders will not be able to continue to support and serve our most vulnerable families and children, and our state will suffer the loss of more essential child care businesses.

We urge you to support our state’s most precious investment – our children – by ensuring all Marylanders have access to licensed, quality childcare. We do not want to cripple or close more struggling childcare businesses, many of whom are owned by women of color. Without access to child care, parents will be forced to abandon jobs, change hours, stress over the loss of employment opportunities, be forced to leave school, or quit training. Child care providers are the backbone of Maryland’s economy, and we cannot afford to let these essential programs to shut down or be significantly weakened.

Please act now to avoid the closure of child care centers and family child care homes in a workforce that already faces critical shortages. Thank you for investing in Maryland’s children, families, and economy.

Save the Child Care Scholarship and the Credential Program for Providers in Maryland