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MSDE outlines child care scholarship wait list, legislative changes and outreach plan
Summary
MSDE staff reported enrollment declines in the Child Care Scholarship program, confirmed more than 6,000 children on a wait list, and described legislative changes (House Bill 849, House Bill 1321) plus a Tiger Team plan to solicit extensive provider and family feedback ahead of implementation.
MSDE officials told the State Board of Education’s Strategy & Operations Committee that the Child Care Scholarship (CCS) program has seen enrollment fall since a partial enrollment freeze in May 2025 and that the agency is preparing implementation plans after new legislation and budget increases.
The update from Anne Stock, chief of staff in MSDE’s Division of Early Childhood, and Siobhan Williams, acting director of the Child Care Scholarship Program, laid out data, recent appropriations and steps to engage providers and families before MSDE submits a full implementation plan later this year.
Siobhan Williams said the program’s enrollment data (January 2023–March 2026) show a spike when a partial enrollment freeze began in May 2025 and then a decline: "as of March 2026, we're at 40,000 approximately, children and 26,000, families," she said. Williams added that the agency has issued more than 2,900 new scholarships since the freeze’s exemptions were applied and that there are "over 6,000 children on the…
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