TREAT CHILD CARE AS ESSENTIAL
Maine families need child care to work for them. But today, too many parents cannot find affordable, reliable care. Providers are under pressure, and early childhood educators are not being paid or supported like the essential workforce they are. When our child care system breaks down, parents cannot work, businesses cannot hire, and children lose out on the strong start they deserve. We need child care that works better, costs less, and gives families real options in the communities they call home.
Child care is essential economic infrastructure. Maine can build a child care system that works—one where every parent who wants to work can, where every child arrives at kindergarten ready to learn, and every community has access to high-quality care. Getting there requires thoughtful management and investing in the people who make it all possible; early childhood educators and caregivers are the workforce behind the workforce. Right now, Maine’s child care workers earn wages that don't reflect the importance of what they do. Families, providers, and the state all struggle to navigate a complicated system. The core problem is structural: underinvestment and fragmentation. As Governor, I will fix both by unifying Maine's birth-to-five system, supporting early childhood educators as the professionals they are, making subsidies work for working families, and partnering with employers to expand capacity where Maine's economy needs it most.
#1. Unify Maine’s birth-to-five system
Families and providers should not have to navigate a maze of disconnected programs and agencies just to get the help they need. As Governor, I will unify Maine’s birth-to-five system under a single leadership with one integrated budget and one clear structure so families can get support faster, providers can spend less time on paperwork, and government can be held accountable for real results that you can see. Maine's Children's Cabinet, created to coordinate services across agencies, was a step in the right direction. But coordination without authority, integrated budgets, or shared data systems has not been enough. After more than two decades, the Cabinet remains advisory, agencies still operate in silos, and families and providers still navigate a maze of disconnected programs with no single point of accountability. I will launch a transition task force in the first 90 days to map the path to unification. The task force will map current funding streams, identify duplicative overhead, and recommend a governance structure and timeline for bringing child care (currently in DHHS) and early education (currently in DOE) under one coordinated strategy and one integrated budget, with implementation beginning in the first budget cycle
#2. Invest in early childhood educators
Child care cannot become more affordable or more available if the people providing it cannot afford to stay in the profession. Early childhood educators are the workforce behind the workforce, but too many are underpaid and over burdened. As Governor, I will support permanent wage supplements, strengthen career pathways and scholarships, and treat early childhood educators like the professionals they are so Maine can recruit, retain, and grow the workforce families depend on. I will make the Child Care Employment award permanent. The Employment Award provides tuition support for early childhood educators' own children to attend licensed childcare programs, helping educators afford the very service they provide. As of September 2025, the program supports 511 children from 313 families, with an average weekly savings of over $100 per family. Another 470 children from 312 families are on the waitlist. The program expires June 30, 2026. Rick will restore the lost $3 million in annual funding and make the Employment Award permanent, ensuring early childhood educators can remain in the field and programs can remain open.
#3. Make family support more accessible
Too many working families are falling through the cracks because help is too limited, too rigid, or too difficult to navigate. As Governor, I will fully fund the Child Care Affordability Program, make support more accessible for all providers, and simplify the process so families can find high-quality care that fits their needs, their work schedules, and their communities. Your family should be able to find care that works in real life. The program currently serves only 7% of eligible children and often has a waitlist. Rick will ensure funding aligns with demand. I will make subsidies portable and accessible by streamlining applications, simplify copay structures that protect lower-income families, and design the system for long-term sustainability.
#4. Expand employer-supported child care
Child care is economic infrastructure, and Maine’s economy is paying the price when working parents cannot find dependable care. As Governor, I will expand employer-supported child care through public-private partnerships and refundable tax credits so more businesses can help create new child care options, expand capacity, and make care more affordable. Doing so would prioritize financial and technical support for employers who build new on-site or near-site child care centers, creating slots in communities where capacity is lowest and recruitment challenges are greatest. There is no one-size fits all approach, but when families, employers, and the state each contribute to the cost, we can ensure that working middle-class families have access to affordable care.
WHY THIS MATTERS TO EVERYDAY MAINERS
If you are paying too much for housing, if your energy bill keeps climbing, if your property taxes feel impossible, or if you are tired of watching government excuse failure instead of fixing it, this is about you, your family, and whether your voice still matters in your own government. .
Corruption is not an abstract problem. Insider politics shows up in the cost of everyday life, in the waste built into broken systems, and in the frustration people feel when nobody seems accountable and nobody seems to listen.
I believe Maine can do better. Together, we can have a government that tells the truth, spends wisely, hires well, acts urgently, and remembers that public service is a responsibility to the people, not a reward for the connected. That is how we lower costs, rebuild trust, and move Maine forward.
JOIN THE CAMPAIGN TO TAKE BACK OUR GOVERNMENT
I am building a statewide, grassroots campaign to take power back from the insiders and put it where it belongs – with you, your family, and the people of Maine.. If you believe government should answer to Mainers, if you are tired of the excuses and the waste, and if you want a Governor focused on results instead of political finger-pointing, I’m asking you to join me. .
Together we can fire the corrupt insiders, restore trust in government, and make Maine more affordable for the people who call it home. Your voice matters in this campaign, and it matters in the future we build together.
Have an idea? We want to hear from you. No one has a monopoly on good ideas, and real leadership comes from listening, working together toward a common purpose, and leading with humility and integrity. This campaign will be stronger when your voice is part of it.
