Committee advances family child‑care cannabis rules to board after safety concerns; item removed from consent agenda

The Education Policy Committee voted to remove family child‑care cannabis and related substance‑use language from the consent agenda and to forward the regulations to the full State Board of Education with a condition that staff bring clarified language back for further review.

Board member Doctor Mila McCarthy raised detailed objections to language in the family child‑care regulations that she said conflicted with previously agreed drafting. McCarthy said the draft both required providers to notify prospective parents if a resident smokes or vapes in the home and elsewhere suggested a resident "may not" consume substances "in the immediate presence of a child in care," which she called inconsistent with earlier language that would have prohibited such consumption anywhere on the premises when children are present. "I find that this is contradictory to what we agreed to," she said.

MSDE staff and others explained some family child‑care settings are private residences and that notification is meant to inform parents when adults in the home consume products while children are not present; staff cited best‑practice guidance from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families. As staff noted, these rules were previously adopted on an emergency basis and were published for public comment.

After discussion, the committee voted to uncouple the family child‑care cannabis provisions from the consent agenda and to recommend that the board approve the cannabis‑related regulations on the condition that staff return with language addressing the committee’s concerns. The committee’s action preserves the regulations from a gap in coverage while ensuring further technical review, members said.

The committee will present the wording and the condition to the full State Board and expects staff to provide amended wording and clarification before final adoption.