Favorable
Committee: Ways & Means
HB 0377
The Maryland Catholic Conference offers this testimony of favorable for House Bill 377. The Catholic Conference is the public policy representative of the three (arch)dioceses serving Maryland, which together encompass over one million Marylanders. Statewide, their parishes, schools, hospitals and numerous charities combine to form our state’s second largest social service provider network, behind only our state government. We offer this testimony on behalf of the families of more than 50,000 students served by over 150 PreK-12 Catholic schools in Maryland.
House Bill 377 would extend funding for the Therapeutic Child Care Grant Program. The purpose of the program is to provide grants to providers that specialize in providing childcare and early childhood education to children under the age of 6 years who have developmental delays, physical disabilities, or delays in social, emotional or behavioral functioning. The Conference previously supported legislation to create the Program in 2022. Therein, funding was only mandated for fiscal years 2023, 2024 and 2025. This legislation would ensure the existence of and funding for the program after fiscal year 2025.
Children are the core of the family unit and any legislation that seeks to stabilize their childcare environment should be considered a priority. Stable childcare is an essential component to supporting strong, economically secure families. Moreover, enabling working parents’ continued access to childcare services is an imperative part of combating poverty. Often, a barrier to sustainable and full-time employment is the availability and affordability of reliable childcare services. The State should thus do all it can to support access to childcare services for working parents.
This bill would provide specialized childcare to those children who most need attention in addressing their cognitive, emotional, psychosocial and language development. Moreover, funding continuity is an important aspect in educating children with disabilities. It is for these reasons we request a favorable report on House Bill 377.