Beginning in September the Pre-Kindergarten Systems Analysis Workgroup (PKW) began what will be a series of meetings over the next two years to conduct a study of the state’s current publicly funded, mixed-delivery pre-kindergarten program.

The PKW was established by legislation during the 2025 session that was spearheaded by Delegate Feldmark in HB 1475. During the bill hearing, stakeholders cited challenges to the process of recruiting private providers that were originally intended to cover 50 percent of the pre-kindergarten expansion needs. As of September 15, 2025, these meetings have begun taking place and will continue through 2028 with reports due in June of 2026 and December of 2027.

According to agendas from the first two PKW meetings, no providers, third-party experts or other state agencies have been hosted to by the group. All presentations to date have come from members of either the Maryland State Department of Education or the State Board of Education. According to the legislation, however, the group will be expanding the scope of contributors to wisely include actual private providers who have opted not to participate as well as any other relevant experts on the subject.

These meetings began a couple days before a third-party review of the mixed-delivery program was recently presented to the Blueprint Accountability and Implementation Board. This work was conducted by researchers at the University of Maryland and it is unclear at this point is the two efforts are connected or collaborating.

As previously covered on Conduit Street, the team at the University of Maryland made several recommendations that included considering more state funding but also, citing in bold, that “if a mixed delivery system is not working as intended, it may need to be revisited.” This assessment was based on the adjusted ratios that were already decreased after the initial rollout did not meet progress requirements. One key takeaway was that school systems have run into significant challenges recruiting businesses despite employing what researchers deem to be the most promising strategies.

Maryland General Assembly leadership is taking notice as well. According to a Maryland Matters article, Delegate Vanessa Atterbeary, the Chair of the Ways and Means Committee in the Maryland House of Delegates, shared concerns during a meeting of the Maryland State Child Care Association. From the article:

Atterbeary said the mixed-delivery system that aims to expand prekindergarten in both public schools and for private providers, as part of the state’s Blueprint for Maryland’s Future education reform plan, is “still not working.”

Other legislators went on to promise a closer look at the child care business landscape in Maryland during the 2026 legislative session.