Texas Has Made Progress 

Texas currently has nearly 1 million licensed child care seats, and overall licensed capacity increased by more than 3,900 seats this year. Texas also has more than 132,000 Texas Rising Star seats, representing an increase of nearly 48,000 quality seats. These numbers represent real investments and real progress. They also represent children who have a safe and supportive place to learn and grow and parents who are able to participate in the workforce. 

The Texas Legislature also stepped up in 2025 by investing $100 million in TANF dollars in Child Care Services. That investment helped children maintain their child care seats at a time when the system was facing significant financial pressure. With federal funding remaining essentially flat while the cost of providing child care continues to outpace inflation, Texas has experienced an estimated 9.5% reduction in child care slots. Without the Legislature’s $100 million investment, those reductions would have been even greater. 

This is an important example of how Texas investment can protect Texas children and families. 

The System Is Under Pressure 

Despite this progress, families across Texas continue to face significant challenges finding affordable, accessible care. 

Texas has 413 overall child care desert ZIP codes, where demand for child care is at least three times greater than available supply. For families who rely on child care subsidies, there are 884 subsidy child care deserts. While subsidy capacity increased by more than 23,000 seats, the number of subsidy deserts actually increased by 106 ZIP codes. 

We see a similar pattern with quality care. Texas has added nearly 48,000 Texas Rising Star seats, yet the number of Texas Rising Star deserts increased to 938 ZIP codes. 

These numbers demonstrate that the challenge is not simply the number of seats in Texas. We need to ensure that the right care is available in the communities and at the price points where families need it. 

The fact that nearly two-thirds of Texas’s overall child care deserts are considered chronic – remaining deserts for three consecutive years – demonstrates that some communities face persistent challenges that cannot be solved through short-term investments alone. 

We should continue investing Texas dollars in Texas children while also improving how the system operates. This includes:

• Strengthening coordination across state agencies that administer programs affecting children and families.
• Making access easier for families through coordinated intake, common applications, and transparent information about eligibility, available seats, and waitlists.
• Improving coordination between regulation and quality initiatives so providers receive consistent guidance and can focus their resources on children.
• Targeting investments strategically to communities experiencing persistent child care shortages.
• Ensuring accountability for public investments so Texas can understand where resources are going and whether they are producing the outcomes children, families, and taxpayers deserve.

Texas does not need to start over. We need to strengthen what we have, eliminate any inefficiency, and prioritize the needs of working parents and employers.

The child care system already provides high-quality care for thousands of Texas children and enables parents to work. The Legislature’s $100 million investment in 2025 demonstrated the difference that state investment can make in protecting that system.

As federal resources remain constrained and the cost of providing care continues to rise, the time is now for Texas to build on that commitment.

Investing in child care is investing in Texas children, Texas families, and the Texas economy. We should protect the progress we have made, address the gaps that remain, and continue investing Texas dollars in Texas’s children.