Reports
- 2023-2024 Early Care and Education Annual Report (PDF)
- 2022 Early Care and Education Annual Report (PDF)
- 2020-2023 Child Care Plan for Maine (PDF) The need for child care became even more evident during the coronavirus pandemic. As a result of historic Federal support, Maine received more than $175 million to support child care improvements - representing the biggest Federal investment in child care since World War II. The child care stabilization grants were complemented by additional initiatives, including state-funded salary supplements for early childhood educators and grants to expand child care capacity. Find more information about the 2021-2022 ARPA Stabilization Grants.
2024 Child Care Cost Estimation Study
Understanding the cost of early childhood education and care services and the key cost drivers experienced by child care providers is an essential first step in developing an overarching and effective strategy to support Maine's child care system. OCFS retained the Center for Early Learning Funding Equity (CELFE) to study and develop a model to understand the cost of providing child care in the state. To estimate the cost of providing child care services, CELFE created cost models to study the cost of care and investigate to what extent there are revenue-expense gaps for typical providers under current market conditions. CELFE created cost estimation studies for two provider types in Maine, Center-Based and Family Child Care, to capture the unique cost drivers for these different business models. The results of this work are captured in both the Executive Summary and the Full Report, below.
Child Care Cost Study Executive Summary (PDF)
Child Care Cost Study Full Report (PDF)
2022 Zero To Three Workgroup ECE Workforce Report
In January of 2022, Maine’s Zero to Three Workgroup released its report on State Policy Options for Early Childhood Educator Compensation which examined three common approaches to increase the compensation of early childhood educators, including tax credits, wage supplements, and education awards. This report summarizes the basic elements of each approach, including their advantages and disadvantages. The report also provides background on the impact of COVID-19 on the early childhood education system, the current industry challenges regarding compensation for staff, and the demand by families for affordable child care. The report is intended to inform policy efforts as Maine seeks to expand the accessibility and affordability of high-quality early childhood education and child care throughout the state. These efforts will benefit early childhood educators and the children and families served by the early childhood education system.
ECE Initiatives
2023-2025 Preschool Development Grant: Birth to Age 5
The Maine Department of Health and Human Services, in collaboration with Maine Department of Education, was awarded the Preschool Development Grant Birth through Age 5 (PDG B-5) for three years, January 2023-December 2025. This PDG B-5 renewal grant is helping Maine to build off the previous planning grant and work to improve the early care and education mixed delivery system.
Needs Assessment: State of Maine Needs Assessment, Children Birth to Age 5 and Their Families, Update of 2019 Needs Assessment
Strategic Plan: Coming Soon!
For more details about Maine's Preschool Development Grant, Birth to Age 5, explore the 2022 PDG B-5 Application.
2023 Early Childhood Consultation Partnership Expansion & Evaluation
OCFS began a pilot of ECCP®, an evidence-based model of early childhood mental health consultation, in 2021 across eight initial counties. ECCP® provides short-term consultation to build the skills and capacity of child care providers, afterschool programs, and public schools to meet the social, emotional, and behavioral needs of children birth through age eight. Per legislation passed in 2022, OCFS began expanding ECCP® services statewide in January 2023.
OCFS participated in a process evaluation of the initial pilot of ECCP®, conducted by SRI Education. The resulting report was produced in May 2023 and incorporated stakeholder input, including families and early childhood educators. The findings and recommendations from this report will be used to inform the statewide expansion of ECCP® and improve service delivery. ECCP Report
2019-2022 Bipartisan Policy Center Gap Analysis
In 2019, Maine participated in the Bipartisan Policy Center’s (BPC) effort to quantify the supply of, and potential need for, child care in 25 states (report link below). Maine recently participated in an updated mapping as of 2021 (PowerPoint slide deck and webinar links below). Maine is using the results as an additional data point to address child care capacity in the state.
Additionally, Maine used the data and recommendations from the 2020 BPC report to inform several child care recovery efforts that have been deployed over the past two years including the Child Care Plan for Maine, the Child Care Infrastructure Grants and the Early Childhood Educator Salary Supplement Program.
Maine Child Care Supply/Demand Analysis in 2019
BPC Full Report
Maine Child Care Supply/Demand Update in 2022
Slide Deck
Webinar
2019 Preschool Development Grant: Birth to Age 5
The Maine Department of Education, in collaboration with Maine Department of Health and Human Services, was awarded the Preschool Development Grant (PDG), Birth through Age 5 in 2019. This one-year PDG B-5, which ended in 2020, was a planning grant to study and outline a roadmap for improvement in the early care and education mixed delivery system. This grant supported the Children’s Cabinet goal that all Maine children will enter kindergarten prepared to succeed.
Needs Assessment: B-5 for ME: Quality, Accessibility, and Affordability of Services for Maine’s Children & Families
Strategic Plan: The 2020-2025 State of Maine Strategic Plan for Meeting the Needs of Vulnerable Children Birth to Age 5 and Their Families
For more details about Maine's Preschool Development Grant, B-5, explore the 2019 PDG Grant Application and the PDG Final Report Summary.