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Lawmakers urge end to Maryland childcare scholarship freeze as wait list grows
Summary
At a joint Ways and Means and Appropriations briefing, state lawmakers and advocates pressed the State Department of Education to lift an enrollment freeze on the childcare scholarship program after presenters said the program now serves far more children and carries a larger state funding share than in prior years.
A joint hearing of the Ways and Means Committee and the Appropriations Early Education and Economic Development Subcommittee on Oct. 31 focused on Maryland's childcare scholarship program and an ongoing enrollment freeze that officials say remains in place despite an expectation it would end in September.
"It is now October, and that freeze has not been lifted," Chair Vanessa Atterberry said in opening remarks, noting that scholarship enrollment has grown by "more than 200%" over four years and that the freeze is preventing families from accessing care.
The Department of Legislative Services (DLS) told lawmakers that the childcare scholarship program accounts for the large majority of state operating funds for childcare: in DLS's review FY26 state operating funds for childcare total about $442.8 million, with $414.2 million (93.6%) allocated to the scholarship program. DLS presenters said enrollment rose from roughly 12,000 children in 2017 to about 46,295 at the start of the current…
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