Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee recommends against cuts to child care
AUGUSTA — Today, the Legislature’s Joint Standing Committee on Health and Human Services voted against cuts to Maine’s child care system in their set of budget recommendations to the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee. The committee, on a 10-3 vote, recommended that the upcoming biennial budget maintains funding for child care worker wage supplements and tuition coverage at current levels.
“The child care industry is the glue that holds our communities and economy together,” said Sen. Henry Ingwersen, D-Arundel, and Rep. Michele Meyer, D-Eliot, the Senate and House Chairs of the Health and Human Services Committee. “Without it, parents would be unable to go to work, kids wouldn’t get a necessary head start on their education and dedicated, compassionate providers across the state would be out of a job they love. We’ve known for a long time that our child care system is in crisis, and recent action by the Legislature to boost wages and lower costs for workers has made a real difference in turning things around. While we recognize the tight budget situation we are in and sympathize with the difficult decisions the department has had to make in their budget recommendations, we do not believe that going backwards on child care is the right move. It is an industry too crucial to the entirety of our state, and its workers are truly the workforce behind the workforce.”
In 2022, the Legislature gave strong, bipartisan support to legislation that would establish a wage supplement program for child care workers. In 2023, the Legislature doubled state funding for the program through the 2024-2025 biennial budget. This year, the current budget proposal recommended reducing the child care worker supplement to 2022 levels. Child care providers have cited the wage supplement increase as aiding staff retention and keeping their doors open.
The 2024-2025 biennial budget additionally allocated $2.5 million for a two-year pilot program known as the Child Care Employment Award, which would cover the cost of child care tuition for the staff of licensed child care programs. This program lowers costs for child care workers and helps keep them in the struggling industry. The Governor’s proposed biennial budget recommended eliminating this program.
The Health and Human Services Committee also voted 10-3 to recommend maintaining current levels of state funding for Head Start, which helps low-income, preschool-age children access educational, social and emotional development services.
The Legislature’s Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee will review recommendations from policy committees in the coming weeks as they construct the biennial budget for fiscal years 2026 and 2027. The recommendations of policy committees, such as Health and Human Services, are not binding on the Appropriations Committee. The committee’s work can be followed here.
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