This commentary originally appeared in the San Antonio Express-News, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, and the Longview News-Journal.
Before COVID-19, economists, brain researchers and children’s advocates like myself would readily point out that child care providers play a key role in giving young kids the social, emotional and learning tools they will need for school and beyond.
And now the pandemic has vividly shown us the other ways that child care providers — much like grocery store employees, doctors, nurses and others — are so important to our state. Texas officials have sprung into action in recent weeks, recognizing that child care is critical for getting medical professionals and other essential employees to work during this crisis — and recognizing that once the pandemic is over, our economy will only recover if a strong child care infrastructure is in place. Texas leaders have taken good first steps, but there’s more state leaders must do to meet these goals.
On March 31, Gov. Greg Abbott ordered that only those child care centers serving essential workers could remain open. Before the crisis, there were more than 17,000 licensed child care centers and homes across the state. By the date of Abbott’s order, more than a third had closed due to parents keeping their kids at home or providers fearing for staff safety.
Abbott and agency leaders deserve praise for taking quick actions to expand access to child care for “front line” workers. Leveraging federal funding and its rule-making authority, the Texas Workforce Commission, or TWC, also provided short-term support for child care programs serving low-income families and children in foster care, although the majority of Texas child care providers are not in this subsidy system and won’t benefit from the emergency aid.
Abbott also appointed a Frontline Child Care Task Force to develop a statewide database of available child care spots so nurses, grocery store employees, and others could quickly find quality child care in their communities and continue working.
There are further steps the state should take now to support the child care programs serving essential workers and also ensure the thousands of licensed child care centers and homes, which previously served more than a million Texas families, can reopen once the crisis has passed.
First, the supplemental payments provided by TWC to child care providers in our subsidy program should continue until the pandemic ends. To compensate programs serving essential workers, which must now operate with smaller teacher-to-child ratios under social distancing guidelines, the state should provide higher reimbursement rates and ensure educators receive bonus pay given the health risks.
While the case for expanded health coverage and paid leave is stronger than ever in Texas, certainly our essential workers, including those in the child care sector, need them now as they confront health risks in our fight against coronavirus.
Texas leaders must also take decisive action to ensure our broader child care system can weather this crisis and reopen quickly when it’s safe to do so. Child care providers were already operating on thin margins before the crisis; extended closures over the next several months without significant funding will put a substantial percentage of them out of business. For our economy to recover after the pandemic, there must be a strong, healthy child care sector that is ready to care for the children of working parents.
Other states are leveraging federal stimulus and disaster relief funding to provide grants directly to quality child care programs for mortgage, rent, payroll supports and other needs. Texas should do the same. Additionally, as Texas leaders focus on restarting our economic engine through efforts such as the business task force created by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, supporting child care should be high on their agenda.
Texas leaders have taken some strong early steps to support the child care sector, but there’s much more work ahead. Any hope for a return to a strong Texas economy depends on it.
Stephanie Rubin is CEO of Texans Care for Children. She serves on the state’s Frontline Child Care Task Force.