BALTIMORE — Raising children is never easy, or cheap. But here in Maryland, advocates say it's not going to get any easier or cheaper for families based on the outcomes of the 2025 legislative session.
"Things in Maryland are tough when you're welcoming a new family, a new child into your family right now," said Beth Morrow, director of public policy at the Maryland Family Network.
Families who were expecting to have access to the state's new paid leave program as soon as next year, now have to wait until 2028.
Legislators agreed with the Maryland Department of Labor's request to delay the launch of the Family and Medical Leave Insurance program due to uncertainty at the federal level.
It will give workers $1,000 week for up to 12 weeks as they take care of a newborn, a family member, or themselves. It was originally supposed to go into effect in July 2025, with benefits beginning next year. Those benefits now won't come until 2028.
"I think that's going to be difficult for families who are planning for when to have children," Morrow said.
And for families who are looking for some help paying for child care, there's going to be less available. Facing a massive deficit in the state budget, the Maryland Department of Education (MSDE) proposed a way to save money - freezing enrollment for child care scholarships beginning next month. The state expects that freeze will bring down the number of scholarships from more than 45,00 to about 40,000 over the summer, based on its monthly rate of children leaving the program. The plan is to then cap enrollment at 40,000 children.
Advocates including the Maryland State Child Care Association urged lawmakers to prevent the freeze.
“Communication we've seen from the department says that the enrollment freeze will be in place until September. Advocates are concerned that the state's budget picture might not be any rosier next fall, and we're concerned about the length of time that the waitlist will be in effect,” Morrow told WMAR-2 News.
Once the cap is reached, new families will be admitted only as children leave the program. MSDE says the program will then have an estimated total cost of $497 million, a big decrease from the projected price tag of $740 million if the program continues to grow at its current rate.
"Program participation has gone up over the years because the state investment has gone up," Morrow said.
How lawmakers' decisions this session could impact young families in Maryland
It's also grown because MSDE raised income eligibility in 2022, allowing more families to qualify for the assistance. MSDE said at the time, "Prior to this change, a family of four could have an income up to $71,525 per year. Now a family of four can earn up to $90,033 per year and still qualify for assistance."
Morrow is concerned the enrollment freeze could also hurt child care providers, some of whom only get clients who are on these scholarships.
"Parents can't afford to pay, these providers can't really afford to stay cause their wages are so low. So we really believe that there's gotta be a better way, that there could be additional public investment into the early years to help families and to help children be off to a good start," she said.
There was some good news that came out of Annapolis this session. Lawmakers passed a couple of bills that aim to make child care a more attractive field.
"Child care providers make very low wages, and have often have limited access to benefits, especially health insurance. The state passed a bill that will try to increase access to health insurance for people who work in child care," Morrow said.
They also passed a bill that will enable local jurisdictions to increase property tax credits for child care providers.
