So far, the Texas Legislature has not committed to providing the funding needed to keep high-quality child care open so parents can go to work.
Over the past two years, the child care situation has gone from bad to worse. As more child care providers close and classrooms sit empty due to a lack of teachers, some parents cannot work, and businesses throughout the economy cannot hire and retain employees.
In the absence of legislative action, the crisis is about to get worse: According to a recent survey from the Texas Association for the Education of Young Children, 44 percent of responding child care programs indicated their program is likely or maybe likely to close within the next year when federal relief funding expires.
Over 30 Texas organizations just released a statement urging the Budget Conference Committee at the Texas Legislature to include bedrock child care funding in the state budget.
Specifically, the groups urge lawmakers to support the proposed rider in Article XI to continue the state’s successful stabilization grants to provide bedrock funding to approximately 13,000 child care providers and over 90,000 Texas early educators.