Early childhood education operators Michelle Lloyd and Cindi Webb appreciated that Maryland State Department of Education officials provided updates on various initiatives Thursday, but they still didn’t get an answer to their question.
When will the enrollment freeze on the state’s child care scholarships program be lifted?
The state stopped accepting new families in May, when demand threatened to bust the budget for the program that provides financial assistance to working, income-limited families for child care. When they paused the program, state officials said they expected it to be reopened by the start of the school year, but that has not happened.
“The freeze is affecting children and learning. It’s affecting families being able to go to work,” said Lloyd, president of the Baltimore County Family Child Care Association.
She and Webb joined about 213 other participants — about 40 of whom were logged online — Thursday at the Maryland State Child Care Association’s leadership symposium in Columbia.
The child care scholarship was top of mind because owners, directors and administrators are worried that without it being available for new families, it could force some child care centers to restructure their operations.
Or worse: shut their doors.
But Sarah Neville-Morgan, assistant superintendent in the state Department of Education’s Division of Early Childhood, tried to calm the nerves of attendees. She said the number of children enrolled decreased to 43,000 last month, down from more than 45,000 in June.
“We still haven’t got down below the 40,000 that we need to get to, to stay within the budget,” Neville-Morgan said. “We would love to have more [money], increase us. We’d all be happy, but we know Maryland has other needs.”
She also noted the uncertainty surrounding the federal government, especially in terms of funding and the ongoing government shutdown.
Concerns about the impact of changes at the federal level were echoed by several of the state delegates who showed up for the symposium.
“We are waiting on pins and needles to see what daily calamities befall us from Washington,” said Del. Jared Solomon (D-Montgomery), one of eight delegates who came to Columbia to be part of a panel at the event.
“I do not see a huge appetite this year, certainly from our partners across the street in the Senate, to make any additional, sort of radical budget changes,” he said. “I think this is probably a status quo year [in the 2026 legislature].”
Despite likely fiscal challenges, lawmakers said they will still try to reopen enrollment on child care scholarships. A joint virtual briefing on the program is scheduled for Oct. 30 with the House Ways and Means Committee and Appropriations’ Education and Economic Development Subcommittee.
House Ways and Means chair Del. Vanessa Atterbeary (D-Howard) said that finding “a structured end to the freeze” would be one of the main focuses in the 2026 session.
One statistic highlighted: An estimated 245,000 children are eligible for the scholarship, but only 14% are currently being served.
“We have a ways go to,” said Shavon Williams, customer service coordinator for the scholarship program.
The scholarship program was not the only early childhood topic mentioned. Atterbeary said the mixed-delivery system that aims to expand prekindergarten in both public schools and for private providers, as part of the state’s Blueprint for Maryland’s Future education reform plan, is “still not working.”
Lawmakers this year passed House Bill 1475, sponsored by Del. Jessica Feldmark (D-Howard). The law established a 12-member prekindergarten system analysis work group tasked with assessing the mixed-delivery system. The group is scheduled to hold its second meeting Oct. 16.
“For that to work, private providers have to want to participate. It has to be worthwhile for them to participate. We have to make it desirable for them to participate, and we have not done so,” Feldmark said.
Del. Jheanelle Wilkins (D-Montgomery), who serves as vice chair of Ways and Means, offered some advice, especially with the House “prioritizing the child care industry next legislative session.”
“We need your voices,” she said. “We need your child care providers to speak to the legislators that represent them. Clearly, no senators are up here, so make sure you meet with the senator to say, ‘This is what’s happening.’ I think that would make a tremendous impact next legislative session.”