Council advances funding to move children off childcare scholarship wait list and stabilizes positions

Montgomery County council committees recommended (and the council approved) budget actions intended to reduce the state childcare scholarship wait list and stabilize early‑childhood administration.

The joint ECHHS committee recommended a $500,000 enhancement that would move 23 children from the state scholarship wait list into the county’s Working Parents Assistance program (about $300,000 to serve 13 infants/toddlers and $200,000 to serve 10 preschool‑age children). The committee also placed a second $500,000 tranche on the reconciliation list to move an additional 23 children, bringing the potential total moved to 46 children.

"That would be an attempt to continue to make progress and target specifically based on DHHS's true cost of care," Councilmember Will Giordano said when describing the recommendation. He and other councilmembers emphasized the scale of unmet need: the chair noted roughly 57,000 children under age 5 in the county, about 32,000 eligible for subsidized care and only 12,000 currently served.

The joint committee also recommended converting seven contractor positions to merit status (five contractors moving to merit plus two new merit positions) at net zero in FY27, with full annualization costs in FY28 partially offset by operating savings. Staff estimated the FY28 annualized cost would be roughly $405,000 with $285,000 in operating savings, leaving a net ongoing cost of about $120,000 per year.

Councilmembers stressed the investments are meant to protect access to childcare as federal funding shifts and to support early‑childhood workforce stability. The item was moved forward with unanimous concurrence; the additional reconciliation tranche will be considered during the council’s reconciliation process.

Next steps: the tranches and position conversions will be finalized through reconciliation and budget adoption in the coming days.