Reports
- 2023-2024 Early Care and Education Annual Report
- 2022 Early Care and Education Annual Report
- 2020-2023 Child Care Plan for Maine 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.
2025 ECE Workforce Salary Supplement Program Evaluation
This report was written by the Center for Early Learning Funding Equity for the Maine DHHS Office of Child and Family Services to evaluate the efficacy of its Early Childhood Educator Workforce Salary Supplement System. The results were encouraging and provided evidence that the program is having the intended effects of 1) stabilizing the early care and education workforce in the state and 2) incentivizing further training and credentialing among the workforce.
Maine ECE Workforce Salary Supplement System Evaluation Report
2025 Child Care Employment Award Pilot Evaluation
This report was written by the Center for Early Learning Funding Equity for the Maine DHHS Office of Child and Family Services. The Maine Legislature allocated $5 million ($2.5 million per year) for the two-year initiative, which launched in July 2024. The pilot provides a workplace benefit to staff employed in licensed child care programs across the state, and was designed to complement the Child Care Affordability Program (CCAP).
Maine Child Care Employment Award Evaluation Report
2025 Cost of Expanding Maine's Child Care Affordability Program
Maine’s 22 MRSA §3740-E requires the Office of Child and Family Services (OCFS) to design a phased implementation plan with benchmarks for limiting child care costs, by 2030, to no more than 7% of a family's income for a family earning up to 250% of the state's median family income. This report lays out various options for expanding income eligibility in the Child Care Affordability Program (CCAP) while capping parent copays at no more than 7% of a family’s income. It also discusses alternative options for expanding access to affordable and high-quality child care.
2025 Cost of Expanding Maine's Child Care Affordability Program Report
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
Child Care Cost Study Full Report
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 were used to inform the statewide expansion of ECCP® and improve service delivery. ECCP Report
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 industry challenges regarding compensation for staff, and the demand by families for affordable child care.
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. Maine participated in an updated mapping in 2021. Maine used 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 efforts that were deployed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Maine Child Care Supply/Demand Analysis in 2019
2020 BPC Full Report
Maine Child Care Supply/Demand Update in 2022
2022 Slide Deck
2022 Webinar
Collaborative Early Childhood Initiatives
2026 Preschool Development Grant: Birth to Age 5
The Maine Department of Education, in collaboration with Maine Department of Health and Human Services and the Governor's Office of Policy Innovation and the Future, was awarded the Preschool Development Grant Birth-Age 5 (PDG B-5) for 2026. This grant is focused on supporting further development of an early care and education system, including coordinated state governance and a shared early care and education vision for Maine.
For more details about Maine's Preschool Development Grant, Birth to Age 5, explore the 2025 PDG B-5 Application.
2023-2025 Preschool Development Grant: Birth to Age 5
The Maine Department of Health and Human Services, in collaboration with Maine Department of Education and the Governor's Office of Policy Innovation and the Future, was awarded the Preschool Development Grant Birth-Age 5 (PDG B-5) for three years, January 2023-December 2025. This PDG B-5 renewal grant helped Maine build off the previous planning grant and supported work to improve the early care and education mixed delivery system and early childhood services for families.
Needs Assessment: State of Maine Needs Assessment, Children Birth to Age 5 and Their Families, Update of 2019 Needs Assessment
Early Childhood Strategic Plan: Coming Soon!
For more details about Maine's Preschool Development Grant, Birth to Age 5, explore the 2022 PDG B-5 Application.
2019-2020 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 Birth-Age 5 (PDG B-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.