Appropriations Committee advances childcare scholarship package to prioritize waitlist and authorize partial scholarships

The Appropriations Committee voted to advance a package of bills designed to expand access to Maryland’s childcare scholarship program, prioritize children already on the wait list and authorize partial scholarships funded in part through a sliding fee scale.

Chair (speaker 1) said the work grew from a joint effort with Ways and Means and called it “a really strong package on childcare scholarships.” Alistair, identified on the record as staff from Ways and Means, told the committee the bills together aim to reduce the existing wait list and create a statutory wait list with priority categories.

“So this bill exempts people in certain groups from being affected by a freeze in enrollment,” Alistair said, summarizing HB 849. He said the amendments add homeless children to the exempted groups and codify current exemption practices for siblings of enrolled children, families receiving Temporary Cash Assistance and similar benefits. He also said MSDE must establish the wait list and set priority categories, including greatest financial need and childcare workers who work more than 20 hours per week and accept scholarship applicants.

Alistair described the companion measure that authorizes partial scholarships and a sliding fee co‑payment scale (HB 1321). He told the committee the system could allow for a minimum co‑payment “no more than $10 a month,” that co‑payments should not be 7% or more of a household’s annual income, and that households at the federal poverty level would be exempt. He said the sliding fee revenue would be used to expand scholarship slots.

Members pressed staff on fiscal assumptions. One committee member asked whether a fiscal note figure of $68 million reflected earlier drafts with broader exemptions; Alistair said that figure was based on different assumptions and that the current package assumes reallocation of slots rather than automatic expansion. Alistair estimated about 4,500 children are currently on the wait list and said roughly 400 families who are homeless would be immediately served under the exemptions in HB 849.

The committee moved each bill favorably: HB 561 (credential funding for childcare staff, as amended), HB 849 (wait‑list and exemption categories) and HB 1321 (partial scholarships and sliding fee scale). Each passed on roll call; the transcript records the chair thanking Ways and Means staff for assembling the package and noting the committee expects additional budget actions in coming weeks.

What happens next: HB 849 was described on the record as contingent on HB 1321; committee members and staff emphasized the two bills should be read together. The bills were forwarded by the Appropriations Committee to the next stage of the legislative process.