As Mainers continue to spin out of the post-pandemic world, we are faced with many workforce challenges. The lack of high-quality affordable child care continues to be a crisis for Maine families, businesses and our economy. It needs more attention and support from Maine policymakers.

Child care is not just a service; it is an essential workforce support system. It enables parents to work, supporting all other sectors of our economy. All seven of the United Ways of Maine operate at the nexus of the corporate, nonprofit and public sectors, which provides us with deep insights into Maine’s child care crisis.

During the past six months, the United Way of Southern Maine has met with several large businesses to determine how child care has impacted their employee recruitment and retention efforts. Through employee surveys, we learned that of the respondents who said that all adults within their household are not currently working, 84% said access to an affordable child care is the barrier.

This is just one reason – and there are many – why it is critical that Maine policymakers continue to focus on and support initiatives to strengthen child care and to fully understand the current landscape that Maine families are navigating.

Sadly, even after a lot of attention by the Legislature last year, things have not improved much. The lack of child care remains one of the top two barriers for Maine’s workforce. As reported by ReadyNation in May 2023, our state’s infant and toddler care shortage has reached alarming levels, costing approximately $403 million annually, with costs doubling over just four years.

Additionally, Maine’s child care programs currently serve 9,422 fewer children than licensed capacity due to staff shortages, necessitating approximately 1,090 additional child care teachers. While the Legislature took clear steps last July to work toward solutions such as salary supplements and increased incentives for infant slots in the state’s affordability program, significant gaps still persist.

It is alarming to read that Gov. Janet Mills’ supplemental budget proposal recommends transferring funding out of the child care wage stipend program, delaying increasing income eligibility for child care subsidies for lower-income working parents, and changes the new scholarship program for children of child care workers to a two-year temporary pilot program.

This was not the original legislative intent for this program and will only delay much-needed changes and support. I hope the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee will reject this recommendation.

The United Ways of Maine also ask state policymakers to support new legislation, L.D. 2199, proposed by Senate President Troy Jackson, which continues to address critical child care issues. This proposal strongly aligns with United Ways of Maine’s work supporting access to high-quality, affordable early learning opportunities.

L.D. 2199 provides a clear path to strengthen the Legislature’s commitment to this work. Shifting to an enrollment-based, rather than attendance-based, reimbursement policy would create greater financial stability for providers, allowing them to continue offering vital services to the low- and middle-income families who need it most. Furthermore, the proposal for an emergency fund for providers needing temporary assistance, coupled with technical support for future sustainability, is a proactive safeguard. As the cost of providing care for our youngest learners continues to rise, it’s important to acknowledge that most for-profit providers operate on razor-thin margins of less than 1%, putting them at risk of closure.

This bill takes steps to boost the financial stability of the field in the short term, while underscoring the long-term importance of sustaining these services for families across Maine.

United Ways of Maine urge our state policymakers to consider the critical role of child care in our state’s workforce and economic stability, and to swiftly and decisively address the challenges facing child care providers to ensure that all families have access to quality care for their children.

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