As Tarrant County lawmakers prepare to kick off the Texas legislative session Jan. 14, Fort Worth Report journalists are exploring the policies set to be reshaped in Austin. Click for more legislative coverage.
Across the state, 78,000 families currently sit on a waitlist to receive subsidized child care, according to nonprofit organization Texans Care for Children.
Nearly 22,000 of these families live in Tarrant County, said Kara Waddell, CEO of nonprofit Child Care Associates.
As the Texas Legislature gears up for its 2025 session, an often overlooked aspect of education and economic development will soon come into focus: early childhood education. The growing demands for child care and pre-K intersect with the state鈥檚 economic resilience and the well-being of its families, according to state and local experts.
In Tarrant County, the child care crisis is multifaceted, Waddell told the Report. As more than 20,000 families throughout the county wait to receive child care, the shortage undermines children鈥檚 early learning during developmental years, burdens working families with limited and costly care options, and strains the ability to maintain a reliable workforce across various sectors.
The crisis, she said, affects families, educational outcomes and the wider economy. State lawmakers must find ways to relieve the burden off of families and child care providers, she said.
鈥淓ven when they鈥檙e able to get a scholarship or subsidy or afford it on their own, then families need to find a good match.鈥� Waddell said. 鈥淭hese are gaps that are critical here in Fort Worth, but certainly across Texas as well.鈥�
One proposal to keep an eye on this session would be the introduction of child care innovation grants, Waddell said. The grants would aim to empower five to six local workforce development boards in high-need areas across the state to collaborate with employers, providing competitive base grants that encourage child care programs to expand capacity in line with regional workforce needs.
Through now-expired COVID-19 relief funds, Child Care Associates to expand child care in areas lacking those services. That could be emulated across the state with further funding, Waddell said.
鈥淭his is why we have regional workforce development boards,鈥� Waddell said. 鈥淭hey know their regional workforce needs.鈥�
David Feigen, director of early learning policy for Texans Care for Children, said that lawmakers could absolutely learn from Child Care Associates鈥� previous work.
鈥淭arrant County has a great resource in Child Care Associates, who鈥檚 providing some of that administrative backbone to help make these partnerships viable,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 think there鈥檚 a lot that folks can learn from them.鈥�
Feigen and Texans Care for Children, which works to drive early childhood education policy change across the state, sent a letter to lawmakers in October to Texas families.
More than 120 organizations across the state, including Child Care Associates, signed onto the letter urging lawmakers to draft policies supporting families and providers.
One such proposal is the establishment of regional early learning hubs, which streamline the integration of public schools with local child care providers.
Fort Worth ISD, for instance, to open a new school, Neighborhood PreK, to serve as a coordinating hub for high-quality child care providers. The strategy aims to address the shortage of options for families needing nontraditional care hours, according to Child Care Associates and the district.
This, too, could be emulated across the state, Feigen said.
鈥淲e know that partnerships between providers and school districts can help parents get a full day of care until 5 p.m. as opposed to a public pre-K program that ends at 3 p.m.,鈥� Feigen said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e hoping that, by expanding these effective partnerships, families can get better choices that are close to where they live and align with the hours they work.鈥�
Similar partnerships between districts and providers exist across the state, like Neighborhood PreK and , that state lawmakers could look to incentivize and make more palatable, he said.
鈥淚 know there have been conversations in various hearings about potentially different strategies, but I haven鈥檛 seen anything filed yet,鈥� Feigen said.
Ultimately, spots must be opened for families needing child care, Feigen and Waddell said. Texans Care for Children鈥檚 top priority is that lawmakers address the long waitlist by funding more scholarships for eligible families.
鈥淲e have families that are eligible and ready to go,鈥� Feigen said. 鈥淲e just don鈥檛 have the funds for scholarships.鈥�
Those proposed funds will be wrapped into the Legislature鈥檚 budget bills, he said. The state , which provides scholarships to families for child care. Feigen urged lawmakers to strengthen the program.
鈥淲e鈥檙e asking for lawmakers to provide 10,000 additional scholarships this session, and we鈥檙e hopeful they will,鈥� Feigen said, estimating the cost would be about $180 million.
鈥淔濒辞谤颈诲补 ; states like , have taken positive steps,鈥� Feigen said. 鈥淪o, there are Republican-led states and Democratic-led states doing more to support their child care services programs.鈥�
Hopefully, he said, Texas is next in line.
The Fort Worth Report鈥檚 Texas Legislative coverage is supported by . At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy .
Matthew Sgroi is an education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at matthew.sgroi@fortworthreport.org or .
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