Cypress Edition | May 2026

Government

BY SARAH BRAGER

Harris County leaders are gearing up for a sweeping e ort to expand a ordable access to child care and early learning. The county has about 166,000 children eligible for subsidized prekindergarten, but nearly 30,000 are on a scholarship waitlist, according to county ocials. Centers must hold a Texas Rising Star certi cation from the Texas Workforce Commission to qualify for subsidy. Only about 55% of local early learning and care centers are TRS-certi ed, ocials said. In response, Commissioners Lesley Briones and Adrian Garcia created a county coalition to guide policy reform over the next year. Harris County prioritizing early education

The action taken

Looking forward

Gulf Coast-area families served by the Texas Workforce Commission Texas Rising Star Total families served Non-Texas Rising Star Percent served by a TRS center

Commissioners Court also directed sta to review existing early childhood education and care resources and identify gaps in services to guide local action. Additionally, the county sta will develop a plan for state-level advocacy that Harris County and its regional partners will push for leading up to and throughout the 2027 legislative session, which begins in January. Both sets of recommendations are due back to Commissioners Court by June 11. “We’re very optimistic, and jurisdictions across Texas are working on it,” Briones said. Recent state and county attention on early childhood education and care 2025 May: Texas Legislature increases funding for child care scholarships by $100 million; Lawmakers pass bill allowing governor to create early childhood education task force June: Lawmakers establish Quad Agency Child Care Initiative with commission of representatives from Texas agencies August: Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo proposes placing property tax increase on ballot to fund local early education programs, fails to garner commissioner support 2026 January: Gov. Greg Abbott announces Task Force on Early Childhood Education and Care; Briones and Garcia establish the Harris County Coalition on Early Childhood Education and Care April: Commissioners Court approves rst wave of local action; State lawmakers continue to meet in interim session 2027 January: 90th legislative session begins

10K

20K

30K

35.5% 39.3%

2017 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018

44.1%

50.7%

52.1%

51.8%

54.8%

69.6%

85.9%

NOTE: BOARD CONTRACT YEARS RUN OCT. 1 THROUGH SEPT. 30. SOURCE: GULF COAST WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT BOARDCOMMUNITY IMPACT

As part of the county’s local initiatives, Commis- sioners Court voted April 16 to create a Business Accelerator Program for child care providers countywide, which will feature a curriculum developed by the University of Houston and Gulf Coast Workforce Board. Garcia said the program will provide mentoring and business support to centers without TRS cer- tications with the goal of improving compliance with regulations and increasing available seats. “The business accelerator ... will enable those facilities to be stronger, maybe learn how to expand their capacity, maybe learn where to go to access more capital, [and] learn the regulation so they can be thoughtful on the processes that are in front of them,” he said.

Chronic child care deserts in Harris County

Child care seats (per 100 children of working parents)

77506 (Pasadena): 0 77093 (Houston): 0 77076 (Houston): 11 77587 (South Houston): 18

77040 (Cy-Fair): 19 77060 (Aldine): 23 77038 (Houston): 27

NOTE: DESERT MEASURED AS AN AREA WHERE THE NUMBER OF CHILDREN UNDER AGE 6 EXCEEDS THREE TIMES THE LICENSED CAPACITY OF LOCAL PROVIDERS

SOURCE: CHILDREN AT RISKCOMMUNITY IMPACT

SOURCE: TEXAS LEGISLATURE ONLINEGOV. GREG ABBOTT’S OFFICE COMMUNITY IMPACT

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