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MSDE: Scholarship enrollment surged, freeze driven by budget limits; agency urges policy changes and prioritization
Summary
Maryland State Department of Education officials told the Ways and Means Committee that an enrollment freeze on the childcare scholarship program reflects budget limits, not lack of need; they estimated nearly 5,000 children on the wait list and said eliminating it would cost roughly $68 million a year, recommending reevaluation of presumptive eligibility and greater administrative flexibility.
Maryland State Superintendent Dr. Carrie Wright and assistant state superintendent Sarah Neville Morgan told the Ways and Means Committee that rapidly rising enrollment in the childcare scholarship program has outpaced available funding and forced a partial enrollment freeze.
"Between July 2022 and June 2025, the number of children receiving scholarships each month more than doubled from nearly 19,000 children in July 2022 to over 47,000 in June 2025," Dr. Wright said, citing recent historic state investments. MSDE said the governor's FY2027 budget proposes $414,000,000 in state funding for the scholarship program, and combined with federal Child Care and Development Fund resources the total support would exceed $500 million.
MSDE officials said the freeze—implemented May 1—was driven by fiscal constraints. Sarah Neville Morgan said the agency expected enrollment to decline by natural attrition but instead enrollment briefly peaked near 48,000 in June after a surge of…
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