ANNAPOLIS, MD — Governor Wes Moore yesterday delivered the keynote address during the Zero to Three Learn Conference in Baltimore—a national gathering focused on early childhood education. After being introduced by First Lady Dawn Moore, the governor addressed an audience of more than 2,000 leading early childhood professionals, including Head Start administrators and educators, social workers, home visitors, pediatricians, academics, and researchers.
The governor’s keynote address highlighted the Moore-Miller Administration’s investments and initiatives to ensure that every young Maryland can succeed regardless of their zip code.
Following are key excerpts from the governor’s remarks as prepared:
“Zero to three is a critical window. If we don’t get those early years right, everything else becomes details. In Maryland, we’ve focused on three core priorities to support our youngest Marylanders and deliver on the promise of early development: Investing in child care; bolstering education; and fighting child poverty.”
“When we took office, Maryland spent $129 million on child care annually. Working in partnership with the General Assembly, we have nearly quadrupled that investment. Today, Maryland invests over $400 million in State funding toward child care each year. Because Child Care is the key to our collective success.”
“In this year’s budget, our administration secured $9.8 billion for PreK-12 education. We are expanding access to public and private pre-school programs. We have increased our K-12 teacher salaries by 10% across-the-board – and are committed to achieving a starting salary of $60,000 next year for all new teachers. And even during the government shutdown, we are working to keep Head Start running!”
“In Maryland, we have launched the first neighborhood-led, state-supported poverty-fighting program in American History. It’s called the ENOUGH Initiative. ENOUGH stands for Engaging Neighborhoods, Organizations, Unions, Governments, and Households. Because we believe it takes a village.”
“I know we live in difficult times. But these are not times for us to feel powerless. These are times for us to understand our power. The last generation is looking at us, praying for our success. The next generation is counting on us to get this right, for the sake of their betterment. The only question for us is: Are we up to the challenge? I believe we are. And together, we will leave no one behind.”
Since taking office, the Moore-Miller Administration has made historic education investments in partnership with the Maryland General Assembly—including nearly $10 billion for K-12 education this year. The Moore-Miller Administration also invested $1.42 billion for the Child Care Scholarship program in its first two years—lowering costs for families by connecting more children to high-quality affordable child care. In FY 2025, the Child Care Scholarship program served more than 47,000 children across the state, a nearly 100% increase from when the governor took office.
Last year, Governor Moore launched the
ENOUGH Initiative to reduce the number of children living in poverty through community-led, government-supported solutions informed by residents’ lived experiences and expertise, data, and cross-sector partnerships. This pioneering program addresses the root causes of poverty in specific neighborhoods that have been disproportionately impacted by barriers to economic mobility, so that more children and families can prosper. The ENOUGH Initiative is authorized by the
ENOUGH Act, a landmark piece of legislation the Moore-Miller Administration passed in the spring of 2024 to address historic inequities in the state and tackle the root causes of poverty.
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