‘Business as usual’: NH officials urge child care providers to remain calm amid funding threats 

Gov. Kelly Ayotte speaks at the Executive Council meeting on Jan. 7, 2026. (Photo by Ethan DeWitt/New Hampshire Bulletin)

New Hampshire child care providers are being urged not to panic by state officials and lawmakers as news spreads that the Trump administration froze federal child care subsidies in five Democratic states earlier this week. 

At an Executive Council meeting on Wednesday, Councilor Joseph Kenney of Wakefield questioned Lori Weaver, commissioner for the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, for an update on the status of the state’s federal funding for child care, despite it not being on the agenda. 

“We have not had any of our child care [funding] cut,” Weaver said. “There’s a lot of media out there to do about Minnesota, and there’s been talk of that, but we are still doing business as usual right now. We have no official word, no notice.” 

On Monday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services also announced a rule-change proposal for the Child Care Development Fund, the primary source of federal child care funding in New Hampshire. 

If approved, the proposal would allow states to change how payments to child care programs are calculated, from the number of children enrolled to the number of children in attendance each day or week. It would also remove the requirement for states to pay child care providers upfront for care subsidies and reinstate parent-directed vouchers. 

Karen Hebert, director of the division of economic stability, told the council that the department “hasn’t had any changes” to its payment processes and that the proposal could take “weeks or months” to be approved. 

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She said if the proposal gets approved, the state Department of Health and Human Services “would then take whatever steps we need to comply with those changes.” 

Providers have said that a change in how payments are distributed could be costly for programs and the families they serve. 

Gov. Kelly Ayotte reaffirmed the importance of the Child Care Scholarship Program, which is funded by the Child Care Development Fund, after the council meeting. 

“I can tell you, the Child Care Scholarship Program is really important to me,” Ayotte said. “We have federal money, but also often have some state portion. So we tend to look at things very carefully.” 

Ayotte also said she and Weaver discuss fraud “all the time,” and that New Hampshire “is not Minnesota.” 

Providers were also briefed directly about what is going on at the federal level.

In a meeting with child care providers on Thursday, Jotham Spreeman, administrator of operators at the Bureau of Child Development and Head Start, aimed to clear up “panic” and “concern.” 

“The three main things to keep track of is to continue to maintain those accurate records like you probably already are, comply with any documentation requests with licensing or from [the department], and then prepare in case we [need] extra information,” Spreeman said.