The Maryland State Department of Education wishes to extend its sincere thanks to our state's child care providers, who have responded to the COVID-19 crisis by delivering exceptional care to the children of health care providers, police, fire and rescue personnel, and so many other first responders and essential personnel.

Since this program was established by Governor Hogan's executive order on March 30, the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) has worked diligently to build an administrative framework to ensure these services are delivered by appropriate providers, that they are delivered in accordance with the standards that Maryland families deserve, and to provide seamless, prompt payment to our providers. In addition to processing these payments, MSDE is also issuing immediate grant payments in the amount of $2000, which essential personnel child care providers will receive by the end of next week.

On Tuesday, April 21, my MSDE leadership team reached out to the Comptroller of Maryland's General Accounting Division (GAD) to coordinate the process of issuing prompt and accurate payments.  The Comptroller's Office, as has always been the case on matters such as this, has been exceptionally responsive, providing us with all of the information we need to authorize reimbursements.

In response to regrettable misinformation that has made its way to social media, accusing the Maryland Comptroller's Office of delaying the issuance of provider payments, I wish to reiterate that this is simply, positively untrue.  It is my understanding that they stand ready and willing to process and disburse payments on the same day they receive our vendor files.  We will ensure that the Comptroller's Office receives this information today.  

Again, we regret that the Comptroller's role in this process has been mischaracterized, and we remain deeply grateful to our providers who are doing so much to ease the burden on our state's essential workers.