As parents across the country continue to reel from layoffs, missed paychecks during the recent government shutdown, and frozen public assistance programs, affording child care during the most critical years of a child’s development has become an increasingly heavy lift — even as costs remain sky-high.
Nationwide, the average cost of center-based child care now exceeds $13,000 a year, or roughly $1,000 to $1,200 a month, according to child care advocacy groups. In Maryland, the burden is even steeper: full-time care can cost families more than $24,000 annually, or over $2,000 a month — a price that rivals the cost of rent or a mortgage. For many families, free public options such as Head Start or state-funded pre-K are either unavailable, oversubscribed, or increasingly uncertain due to federal budget fights and proposed funding cuts.
Against that backdrop, at least one Maryland provider, Keanna Sanders, is trying to ease the strain by offering free pre-K to families who need it most.
Sanders, the founder of Sandbridge Early Learning Center, is offering 16 free pre-K slots for three- and four-year-olds at her Windsor Mill and Catonsville locations, thanks to funding from the Maryland State Department of Education.
“This also provides us with the opportunity to hire college graduates,” she explained to theGrio in a recent interview. “We’re able to provide them with hands-on experience operating in classrooms.”
She launched the initiative in July, after her centers received state grant funding. But the timing wasn’t accidental. Sanders said many of the families she serves — particularly those in Baltimore County and Prince George’s County — were severely impacted by the government shutdown and subsequent furloughs.
“People weren’t paid for quite some time,” she recalled. “They still have bills to pay, mortgages, car notes, different things like that, and they still had to sustain their lifestyle.”
To keep children enrolled, Sanders said her centers paused tuition payments for furloughed families and created temporary repayment plans.
“Maybe they didn’t have to pay for maybe about, you know, 45 to 60 days,” she explained.
Sanders has spent more than 20 years in the child care industry, starting as a teenager working alongside her grandmother, an in-home provider. She opened Sandbridge Early Learning Centers in 2014 and has since expanded to multiple locations across Maryland, serving communities where many families rely on public subsidies to afford care.
That reliance, she said, has become increasingly risky.
“There’s also been a freeze on vouchers,” Sanders said, referring to state subsidy programs that help low-income families pay for child care. “Some [programs] went out of business because they relied on the state to be able to pay them those funds.”
The instability comes as Head Start and other federally funded programs face renewed uncertainty. While the Biden administration viewed child care as essential infrastructure and temporarily stabilized providers through pandemic-era funding, those funds have expired — and Trump-aligned budget proposals have openly targeted Head Start for elimination, alarming advocates who warn millions of children could lose access to early education altogether.
Even now that the government has reopened, Sanders says families aren’t feeling immediate relief. That lag, she warned, is dangerous — because early childhood education isn’t optional.
“Birth to preschool is the most important years of a child’s life,” Sanders said. “That’s where they get their learning abilities… their social emotional skills… [and] their cognitive development.”
Skipping those critical years, she added, has real consequences.
“I think the consequence is probably… failing them,” Sanders said. “You take a child and you just throw them in school… and they haven’t had any social skills.”
For parents trying to navigate limited options, Sanders urges vigilance — and trust in your instincts.
“When you walk into a facility, that should kind of be a parent’s instinct,” she said. “Interview the staff… see how the children are engaging.”
She also encouraged families to keep applying for public assistance even during funding freezes.
“I encourage everyone to still go through putting your applications in,” she said. “Once the freeze comes off, at least you’ll be in order.”
Ultimately, Sanders wants families to know providers can be partners — not just another line item in an already strained budget.
“We are here to help,” she said. “Whatever we can do to support… we will support you guys.”
She added, “We love children, we are here to make sure they get what they need.”
