At a glance:
- Proposed budget cuts to child care funding will reduce wages for child care workers, limit child care availability, and weaken Maine’s economy
- Child care is essential for working families, and cuts will force more parents — especially mothers — out of the workforce
- Instead of cuts, Maine can fund child care by ensuring the wealthiest individuals and corporations pay their fair share in taxes
Maine’s child care system is at a critical juncture. The state has made meaningful progress in recent years, helping working families access child care and ensuring early childhood educators can afford to stay in the field. But proposed budget cuts threaten to undo that progress — harming children, parents, workers, and Maine’s economic vitality.
Women bear the greatest burden when child care is inaccessible, often sacrificing their wages, careers, and retirement security. Meanwhile, early childhood educators are overwhelmingly women and remain one of the lowest paid occupations in our economy. Investing in child care is a matter of justice for women, ensuring they can maintain economic autonomy and receive fair wages for their essential work.
Solving a market failure
Child care is often described as a “market failure.” Providers struggle to stay afloat, parents face steep costs, and child care workers are among the lowest-paid employees in our economy. Recognizing these challenges, Maine’s leaders took bold steps two years ago to expand subsidies for working families and increase wages for early educators.1 These investments were a step in the right direction and have shown signs of progress, with the number of early childhood educators increasing by 15% from June 2023, just before the last biennial budget was passed, and December 2024.2
The impact of proposed cuts
The administration’s proposed budget would slash $15 million from early childhood educators’ wages, eliminate assistance for child care workers with young children of their own, and cut state contributions to Head Start programs that serve our most vulnerable children. These cuts would have devastating consequences:
- Lower wages for child care workers: Child care workers already earn far less than their counterparts in education. In 2023, their median wage was $16.35 per hour — less than 60% of the average income for kindergarten teachers. Cutting wage supplements would mean a $4,000 reduction in income over two years for these workers, forcing many to leave the profession altogether.
- Eliminating benefits for educators: Legislators created the Child Care Employment Award to help early childhood educators with young children afford the cost of care. The award helps child care workers who are paid low wages and rarely any benefits stay in the field while raising their own children. It also incentivizes child care centers to participate in the state subsidy program, helping improve access statewide. More than 500 children were served through the program before a wait list was implemented just four months after it was made available.
- Fewer child care options: With wages and benefits slashed, more child care workers will exit the field, worsening an already dire workforce shortage. This means fewer child care slots, longer waitlists, and higher costs for families who are already struggling.
- A weakened economy: An estimated 18,000 people in Maine are currently out of the labor force due to a lack of child care. Cutting child care funding will push even more parents — especially mothers — out of the workforce, limiting economic growth and reducing household incomes.
A better path forward
The reality is clear: child care is an economic necessity. When parents can access affordable, high-quality child care, they can work, businesses can thrive, and Maine’s economy can grow. Cutting child care funding is a short-sighted goal that would take Maine in the wrong direction.
Instead of cutting child care funding, Maine has alternatives that would preserve and strengthen these critical investments. Lawmakers have introduced proposals to ensure the wealthiest individuals and most profitable corporations pay their fair share in taxes. These measures would create the sustainable funding necessary to support child care services without making things tougher for working families. Furthermore, Senate President Mattie Daughtry has introduced “An Act to Increase Child Care Affordability and Early Childhood Educator Stability in Maine,” which will shore up funding for child care wage supplements and increase access to affordable child care for working families.
Now is the time to build on the progress we’ve made — not erase it. Maine lawmakers have a choice: they can invest in the future by supporting child care, or they can undermine working families and Maine’s economic growth. The right path forward is clear.
Notes:
[1] Lawmakers expanded income eligibility to the Child Care Affordability Program (previously named the Child Care Subsidy Program) from 85% of State Median Income (SMI) to 125% SMI and revamped the Early Childhood Educator Workforce Salary Supplement System to account for experience and credentials. For more information on these programs, see Paying for Childcare and Early Childhood Educator Workforce Salary Supplement System.
[2] Data provided by the Office of Family and Child Services.
