Texas 88th Session Early Childhood Education Legislative Agenda

Many Texans cannot work because they do not have access to any affordable quality child care. Employers all over Texas cannot do business because they do not have workers. Businesses, working parents, and children all suffer the consequences of a lack of child care in Texas. Policy makers must help parents get back to work with affordable child care and pre-K.

Child care is in crisis throughout Texas because there are too few educators. Pay is low and benefits are non-existent. When the child care workforce suffers, the entire economy feels a ripple effect as other working parents are impacted. If you support the child care workforce, you build the economy in Texas. Policymakers must support the child care workforce to support business.

From March 2020 to September 2021, 21 percent of child care closed in Texas. From 2019-2021, available child care seats decreased from 87.1 per 100 children to 54.9. The Child Care Relief Dollars that saved programs from closing their doors and prevented a far worse scenario end in May 2023. Texas needs to act now in order to prevent a complete collapse of the child care market in Texas. Policymakers must invest in the child care infrastructure in Texas.