In some ways, childcare legislation in NH is ahead of its neighbors. In other ways, not so much.

Affordability, availability, and access to early education and childcare are large problems for New Hampshire families and families nationwide. 

In northern New England, these issues are intensified due to sprawling childcare deserts in rural areas, the region’s high cost of living, and housing challenges that make it harder for families to stay. Demographically, there are few differences between New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont. But when it comes to state funding in support of childcare, the Granite State is falling behind. 

As all three states aim to attract young working families, legislators have taken different approaches in seeking solutions for their constituents. 

Recent state policy

Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire all operate in two-year legislative session cycles. Maine’s ended last week, while New Hampshire and Vermont’s end in early summer. 

This cycle, Maine proposed more than 20 childcare-related bills, New Hampshire 13, and Vermont five.

By the end of this year’s session, Maine had five new early childhood education laws in addition to $10 million in state general funds dedicated to increasing funding for existing programs. 

So far, New Hampshire and Vermont have passed zero. Five bills are currently awaiting Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s signature, while an additional six were either killed or tabled by the Legislature. The rest are still active. Some of Vermont’s bills have yet to proceed beyond the first step in their bill process. 

Maine passed a few laws that now put it on par with New Hampshire’s existing policies, such as state childcare subsidy reimbursements based on enrollment and exemptions for military childcare programs from state licensing rules. They also passed laws that New Hampshire has not, such as removing outdoor recreational equipment requirements for childcare facilities and family providers if a public outdoor space is nearby. 

Childcare-related funding placed into New Hampshire’s biennial budget has faced a variety of problems, including issues with its funding source and pushback from state Republicans on funding childcare at all. 

However, New Hampshire’s childcare legislation sought to address a wide range of topics, from zoning to tax credits for businesses to increasing eligibility for its childcare subsidy program for families, the N.H. Child Care Scholarship Program. 

Assistance benefits

New Hampshire also has a less robust subsidy assistance program for families — known as the N.H. Child Care Scholarship Program here — compared to Maine and Vermont.

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New Hampshire has the strictest income eligibility requirements for its program. In Maine and Vermont, a family is eligible to receive subsidy funds to help cover childcare costs if they earn up to 125% or 124%, respectively, of the state median income. In New Hampshire, it is 85%.  

This biennium, Maine has expanded its scholarship program the most. New laws allow family copayments, the state and a family split the cost of childcare, to be waived if families make less than 30% of the state median income, are kinship caregivers, have children in foster care, have a disabled child, or are experiencing homelessness. 

One of the bills awaiting action from Ayotte would make retired grandparents who have custody of young children eligible for the assistance program. There is currently a work-eligibility requirement that does not apply to retirees, so retired caregivers would need to return to work or school to access the program. 

New Hampshire lawmakers also proposed bills to increase the scholarship’s income requirement to 95% of the state’s median income and pay for system upgrades to the scholarship interface, but they were tabled and will most likely have no further action by the end of the session. 

Vermont has not passed any bills to improve its subsidy program; however, it currently offers similar work eligibility requirements to New Hampshire. Vermont contributes more state dollars to its childcare assistance program and has a higher reimbursement rate for providers than New Hampshire. 

Here’s a look at some of the topics of proposed bills from the past two-year session: 

Maine (2025-2026)

• Creating a pilot program to put childcare facilities in school administrative units 
• Increasing the child-to-provider ratio for unlicensed family care providers 
• Increasing child-to-provider ratios for unlicensed childcare 
• Changing the subsidy assistance program to pay providers based on student enrollment rather than attendance
• Ensuring timely processing for childcare payments of children in a foster home 
• Funding a $600,000 tuition assistance pilot program for rural childcare providers 
• Establishing a competitive grant program that would expand and create more out-of-school time programs 
• Exempt military childcare providers from state licensing laws 
• Allowing childcare facilities and family care providers to operate without an outdoor recreation areas so long as there is one within a reasonable distance
• Increasing subsidy reimbursement for the care of infants and toddlers and off-hours care and waive copayments for low-income families, kinship caregivers, families with a disabled child and foster children; and, 

Vermont (2025-2026)

• Expanding use of Child Care Financial Assistance Program 
• Allowing the use and maintenance of epinephrine at childcare facilities 
• Allowing use of the Child Care Financial Assistance Program to non-Vermont residents if a parent works in the state
• Improving the process for Child Care Financial Assistance Program payments to families with multiple children
• Prohibiting the discharge of a firearm within 500 feet of a childcare facility or school 

New Hampshire (2025-2026)

• Providing $15 million in state general funds to continue a pilot program that would help employers recruit and retain childcare employees
• Creating a childcare tax credit for businesses 
• Creating a multi-caregiver self-insurance program for daycare, foster care and behavioral health care providers 
• Reducing zoning barriers for family childcare providers 
• Prohibiting sex offenders from loitering around childcare facilities and schools 
• Removing the work eligibility requirements for retired grandparents receiving the Child Care Scholarship Program
• Raising Child Care Scholarship Program eligibility from 85% to 95% of the state median income 
• Creating a tax credit for businesses that provide on-site childcare for employees 

A more in-depth summary of some of the bills proposed from the beginning of New Hampshire’s 2026 legislative session, along with links to the bill text, can be read here.