A public hearing is set to be held next week for a bill that would provide additional salary supplements for certain childcare provider and establish a grant program to support overnight care.
This bill, LD 1414, was originally introduced as a concept draft by President of the Senate Mattie Daughtry (D-Cumberland).
Language for the proposal was recently released to the public and posted on the Legislature’s website in preparation for the upcoming public hearing. The full text of the proposed legislation can be read here.
As it is currently written, this bill would require the Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to give additional salary supplements worth an extra $120 per month to child care providers and early childhood educators who look after children and toddlers who are between 6 weeks and 36 months old.
DHHS would also need to establish a grant program to help facilitate the offering of child care between the hours of 6pm and 6am.
Funds obtained through this program could be used to “hire experts or consultants or dedicated staff to develop a plan for how and provider could and would provide child care services” during this window of time.
Awards would be given on a one-time basis and could be valued at up to $10,000. The combined amount of all awards given through this program could total no more than $500,000 in the 2027-2028 fiscal year.
The Health and Human Services (HHS) Committee will hold a public hearing for this bill on Wednesday, January 21 at 1pm in Room 209 of Cross Building, located directly next to the State House.
Click Here for More Information on LD 1414
Last spring, child care workers from across the state gathered in Augusta to protest proposed cuts to Maine’s existing child care salary supplements, arguing that the stipends are essential to their ability to keep their doors open.
This program, first launched in 2021, provides a monthly stipend to workers in the child care industry. In the beginning, this benefit was valued at $200 per month and was funded using federal pandemic assistance.
The Salary Supplement program continued to be funded into 2022, with benefits being increased to between $275 and $625 — depending the caregiver’s education and experience — in early 2024.
Due to high demand on the program, lawmakers quickly reduced the benefit amount over the summer to between $240 to $540.
Gov. Janet Mills’ (D) proposed biennial budget at the time had recommended reducing funding to 2022 levels in an effort to address the state’s budget shortfalls.
[RELATED: Maine Child Care Workers Gather to Protest $30M in Proposed Cuts to Salary Supplement Program]
In an overview of the proposed cuts shared by the governor’s office, the Mills administration argued that this reduction would have saved the state about $30 million over the course of the next biennium.
In an interview with the Maine Wire, Charlotte Jacobs — Program Director at Seedlings to Sunflowers — expressed concerns over the potential impacts of these cuts at the time.
“This $30 million cut will force 50 percent of my staff to leave the field,” Jacobs said. “50 percent of my staff leaving the field means that I will have to close my doors.”
“The salaries that we are currently being given have been so helpful, but we’re still all barely making ends meet,” she said. “Rather than cutting, we should be increasing these programs because its proved through the process of these programs that we’ve retained staff, we’ve attracted people to this field, and I just think that continuing these unique benefits to a unique field is crucial.”
“I know that most of our directors and child care staff that are here today feel the exact same way,” said Jacobs. “We’re a field that’s constantly undervalued, underpaid, and not respected to the point we should be.”
The HHS Committee ultimately voted 10-3 in favor of removing these reductions from the budget proposal, preserving the increased benefit amount for the next two years.
