Baltimore City council committee hears state and local plans to address childcare scholarship freeze, workforce and capacity

Baltimore City council members on the Education, Youth and Older Adults Committee held a hearing on early childhood care and education that centered on the state’s paused child care scholarship program, mounting provider and workforce pressures, and local proposals to expand access.

Council President Gonzie Cohen described childcare as “not a luxury. It is a necessity for many working families,” and and lawmakers pressed state and local officials for concrete timelines and options to help families and providers.

Maryland State Department of Education Superintendent Dr. Carrie Wright told the committee the enrollment pause on new child care scholarships began in May because program demand outpaced available state funding. She said scholarship enrollment grew from about 19,000 children in July 2022 to over 47,000 at the program’s peak in June 2025 and that provider participation rose from roughly 2,500 to more than 3,500 statewide. Wright said the state has expanded its investment — from about $59 million in FY23 to a record $414 million annually in FY26 — and that Maryland also recently won a nearly $15 million preschool development grant to support quality work. Still, she said MSDE reached its maximum authorized budget and the pause will remain until new funding is available or enrollment declines to sustainable levels. “The pause in the child care scholarship awards that began last May was driven by real constraints in the state budget,” Wright said.

MSDE staff and the assistant state superintendent said the agency’s role is to educate policymakers and stakeholders and that lifting the freeze depends on additional revenue or enrollment shifts; they confirmed a childcare scholarship briefing for stakeholders scheduled for Feb. 4. The agency also described a 24-month eligibility period for families that receive scholarships and exceptions that have allowed more than 2,000 new scholarships for high-priority groups since May, with 20% of those going to families in Baltimore City.

Local planners and providers highlighted capacity and equity gaps. The Baltimore City Early Childhood Advisory Council’s landscape analysis reports the city has an estimated 37,232 children under age five; available slots (including pre-K) cover roughly half the need and fall to about 36% without pre-K. The ECAC said infant and toddler availability is particularly constrained — roughly 20% — and that the city lost family-based providers and center seats since 2019.

City and nonprofit program leaders described tools and local initiatives. The Baltimore City Child Care Resource Center (Family Tree) outlined referral and coaching services and said new family-childcare licensing support (GOFCC) has helped 61 people become licensed family providers, adding an estimated 416 slots. Maryland Family Network described Locate Child Care (a statewide referral system), shared-services alliances to lower operating costs, and PADI family support centers that are statutorily required to expand. The Fund for Educational Excellence described a proposed two-year, $500,000 mayoral grant to be managed by the Fund for citywide outreach, technical assistance to raise quality, and targeted investments to increase infant and toddler capacity; the Fund said the award is pending Board of Estimates approval.

Public health leaders framed the issue in safety terms. Rebecca Deneen, assistant commissioner for maternal and child health at the Baltimore City Health Department, linked gaps in affordable, accessible child care to risks identified in the city’s Child Fatality Review and recounted recent cases in which lack of safe options contributed to tragic outcomes.

Committee members repeatedly returned to workforce issues: low wages, turnover, and the mismatch between state reimbursement rates and what programs can pay staff. Providers and advocates urged the city to invest in wages, credentialing, and capital supports so programs can stabilize and expand. Local providers at public comment stressed that quality requires sustained investment, and that subsidies and one-time grants are helpful but do not alone solve recurring staffing and operating-cost shortfalls.

Council members and agency partners discussed alternative funding models — city-level scholarship programs, shared funding pools, employer partnerships (including “tri-share” models that split costs across government, families and employers), and incentives to co-locate child care with senior housing or public facilities — while acknowledging those approaches require new revenue and political choices.

The committee did not take formal votes. Members said this hearing is the first in a series of discussions and signaled follow-ups on data (including comparisons of per-child costs across scholarship, family child care and pre-K expansion) and implementation details for the proposed mayoral grant. MSDE and city staff promised additional briefings and to provide requested data on costs, seat conversions, and workforce compensation.

Next steps: MSDE scheduled a childcare scholarship briefing on Feb. 4; the proposed $500,000 mayoral grant awaits Board of Estimates approval; the committee plans additional hearings to track progress on capacity, wages, and scholarship changes.