Call for providing more child care scholarships, grants to build up the supply of high-need child care, and more.
Originally published by Peter Clark, Texans Care for Children.
CHILDREN AT RISK has joined with over 120 Texas groups to urge the Texas Legislature to prioritize child care in the upcoming session. This call to action highlights the urgent need for policies that increase access, improve quality, and support affordability for families across the state. By investing in child care, Texas can strengthen its workforce, bolster the economy, and provide essential support for children’s development.
Austin – On October 8, over 120 Texas organizations delivered a statement to the state Legislature urging lawmakers to make child care a policy priority during the upcoming legislative session.
The statement, penned by Texans Care for Children and supported by CHILDREN AT RISK, explains, “High-quality child care enables parents to work and provide their children with opportunities to learn, socialize, and build new skills during the critical age for brain development. Unfortunately, Texas is experiencing a child care crisis, and many working families are unable to find and afford the high-quality care they need.”
The statement outlines multiple policy recommendations for the Legislature. The first recommendation urges the Legislature to support the child care scholarship program run by the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC), which works very effectively for parents who are able to get off the waitlist and receive a scholarship. In particular, the organizations are urging the Legislature to provide funding to address the program’s long waitlist — which was approximately 78,000 children per day in fiscal year 2024 — and improve the reimbursement rates for participating child care providers. The statement also includes recommendations to the Legislature to build up the supply of child care in high-need areas, ensure child care providers can recruit and retain qualified staff, and expand effective pre-k partnerships with child care providers. The recommendations in the statement are similar to steps that a number of other Republican-led states, such as Florida, Montana, and North Dakota, have taken recently.
Among other recommendations, the organizations are urging the Legislature to provide funding to address the child care scholarship program’s long waitlist — which was approximately 78,000 children per day in fiscal year 2024 — and improve the reimbursement rates for participating child care providers.
“The Legislature has an opportunity to give more parents a chance to go to work and more kids a chance to get the early learning experiences they need,” said David Feigen, Director of Early Learning Policy at Texans Care for Children. “Texans are counting on the Legislature to address the child care challenges facing parents, kids, employers, and child care providers. Lawmakers have signaled that expanding access to high-quality child care is a top priority, and we’re hopeful we’ll see significant investments made this session.”
“With 981 quality Child Care Deserts throughout Texas, child care access is an issue for working parents and businesses in every corner of our state. Every State Senator and Representative has constituents who are struggling to find quality, affordable child care,” said Kim Kofron, Sr. Director of Education for Children at Risk. “Kids need child care to grow and learn, working parents need child care to work, and Texas businesses need child care to grow our economy. When we invest state dollars in child care, Texas is supporting children, parents, and businesses.”
“Every Texan relies on child care, whether we have children or not,” said Cody Summerville, CEO of Texas Association for the Education of Young Children. “We either need it for our own children or the children of people we rely on in our daily lives, like cashiers, nurses, and delivery drivers. Prioritizing child care in the 89th legislature is prioritizing every Texan.”
A wide variety of organizations from across the state signed the statement. For example, a number of business groups — such as the Abilene Chamber of Commerce, Conroe / Lake Conroe Chamber of Commerce, Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce, Lubbock Chamber of Commerce, and Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce — signed on. The statement was also signed by children’s advocacy groups, such as Texans Care for Children and Children at Risk, along with faith-based groups, associations of medical professionals, child care providers, community organizations, and others.
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