Crystal Parritt is the director of childcare service at YWCA Central Maine in Lewiston. She is based in Naples and is active in parent organizing with Maine People’s Alliance.

When we think of Maine’s economy, we often think about the many industries and trades that span our large and diverse state. What we do not often think about are those working quietly in the background: early childhood educators. We are the workforce behind the workforce. We support Maine’s families by providing safe, high-quality child care, often while operating on tight budgets and earning low wages.

However, learning cannot happen without economic stability and investment. Educators, child care providers and others providing a public service already carry immense responsibility. Now, our state lawmakers need to step up: for child care educators to support all our children to the best of our ability, we need our legislators to pass a state budget that increases funding for Maine’s Child Care Affordability Program (CCAP).

CCAP helps eligible families pay for child care so parents can work, go to school or do job training by making payments directly to qualified providers. It ensures that children can learn and develop in nurturing, high-quality environments during the most critical years of brain development.

An increased investment of $15 million to CCAP in our state budget would immediately support over 1,000 children who are currently on the waitlist, limiting future waitlists that disrupt parents’ ability to work, attend school or pursue job training. In a deeply unstable political moment, such an investment would stabilize child care programs across Maine.

We can fund this sound investment by ensuring that the wealthiest Mainers and ultra-profitable corporations that do business in Maine pay their fair share in taxes. For a difference that will be hardly noticeable to them, these funds could change the lives of parents and children across the state.

Additionally, it is costing the state money not to support child care. Maine’s underinvestment in child care has resulted in a lost $400 million every year in economic activity, wages and revenue. Waitlists and funding gaps create lost wages and reduced productivity. In some cases, it can even result in child care center closures — making it even harder to access, especially in rural areas and child care deserts where options are already limited.

Investing in child care is not just support for families; it is an investment in Maine’s future. Every dollar invested in child care can result in over $7 in long-term benefits. Families across Maine are burdened by rising costs and stagnant wages, but businesses thrive and local economies grow when families have access to reliable care.

CCAP helps these families receive the care they need to work and engage in the economy, while also allowing them to provide stable payments to child care programs — many of which are operating on razor-thin margins. The return on that investment is powerful and long-lasting.

While CCAP funding can make child care payments more consistent and stable to support providers, there is more support we need as well. The CCAP Educator Award pilot program, launched in 2024, has been extremely successful. It has helped to both recruit and retain qualified staff, as well as protect against burnout.

Now, it needs permanent, expanded funding. Making this program permanent will ensure current employees at licensed child care programs receive financial, psychological and quality of life support so we maintain a workforce of skilled, highly-qualified educators.

Supporting child care programs and providers is not optional —every part of the system is
essential. No part of our economy can operate without child care and the providers who keep it running. Our state has a responsibility to give CCAP the funding it needs in the budget so that Maine’s children, families and workforce can continue to thrive.