Childcare centers in Maine close for ‘A Day Without Childcare’

GORHAM, Maine — Childcare centers nationwide, including some in Maine, closed their doors Monday in observance of “A Day Without Childcare.”

Many childcare providers participated to show state and local legislators and communities how essential childcare is. 

Seedlings to Sunflower’s executive director and founder, Meghann Carrasco, said the childcare and early childhood learning profession faces several challenges right now. 

Carrasco said the cost of running childcare facilities is steadily increasing, and program directors are struggling to pay their staff living wages. 

“We’re losing people because of low wages,” she said. My board of directors and I have to make a decision every single year on whether we raise tuition or raise payroll.”

Childcare programs are continuously at risk of state and federal funding cuts, which could increase the cost of childcare for families even more. 

President Donald Trump has said he intends to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, which childcare providers said they believe will interrupt federal funding that early childcare programs receive. 

Two weeks ago, the Associated Press (AP) reported that a draft of President Donald Trump’s FY2026 budget requested that Congress eliminate funding to Head Start programs entirely.

The draft was first leaked to the Washington Post and then reported in the AP. After the budget draft was leaked, the president’s administration submitted a new FY2026 budget to Congress that did not explicitly outline cuts to Head Start programs. 

Representatives from Representative Chellie Pingree’s office said that although the new FY2026 budget does not include deep cuts to Head Start and early childhood learning programs, funding is likely still at risk. 

Families will likely feel the brunt of any state or federal funding losses. Charlotte Jacobs, a program director from Seedlings to Sunflowers, said that they have a contingency plan that will have to be implemented if there are any losses to federal funding. 

Currently, the public pre-k program costs $185 per month. The plan would double the cost of the non-profit’s public pre-k program, which heavily relies on federal funding. Private childcare tuition would also increase.

Mothers like Meg Sinclair are trying to find ways to cover the astronomical cost of childcare. Sinclair has a 3-year-old son, and she is currently pregnant with her second child. 

Sinclair is a nurse, and her husband works from home. His demanding job makes it hard for him to work and be a stay-at-home dad.

“It’s frustrating that families have to think about all this stuff that’s going on at the state house and budgets and stuff like that when they’re thinking about growing their family, but you can’t not,” Sinclair said. “I know tons of people who are not having children because there’s just absolutely no way to afford it.”

Families like Sinclair’s could have fewer options as childcare remains on the chopping block. 

“It’s time to start looking at the ultra-rich and not the working class, because that’s what cuts to childcare are. They’re cuts to working class families, adding more stress on working class families who are already spread completely thin,” Sinclair said.

At home, Maine legislators are under pressure to reduce the state’s spending, leaving state funding for education programs at risk. 

Present challenges in the profession have already forced many childcare facilities in Maine to close. Still, some state legislators, like Maine Senate President Mattie Daughtry, are working hard to support childcare programs.

“We’re the oldest state in the nation. We have huge labor market vacancies, and everyone keeps asking why aren’t young people here. This is one of the issues,” Daughtry said. “If you can’t raise a family in Maine, if you can’t find housing, if you can’t find a childcare slot, how are people supposed to be here and thrive.”

Without solutions, families and childcare providers could be severely impacted by a collapse of early childhood learning programs. 

“The workforce behind the workforce is childcare,” Daughtry said. “You want small businesses to succeed? You need childcare. You want your schools to succeed? You need childcare. You want families to feel like they’re taken care of and can pursue the American dream? Childcare.”

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