Election
Travis County tax hike proposed to help lower child care costs
several specific programs that would enhance access to affordable child care throughout the county, including: • increasing subsidy slots in early childhood day cares and creating incentives for providers to offer reduced-tuition spots; • increasing after-school and summer care slots; • expanding nontraditional child care hours— options outside the regular 9-to-5 workday for parents who work atypical hours; • covering gaps in state subsidy funding. A child care subsidy is financial assistance provided by the government to help families pay for child care services. Individuals apply for these through TWC and must satisfy low-income eligibility and employment requirements. These programs are expected to create an estimated 9,800 additional child care opportunities for kids countywide by both increasing subsidy slots, regular full-tuition after-school and nontraditional care slots, according to county documents.
Property owners across Travis County are being asked to support a $0.025 property tax increase in this November’s general election. Should the measure pass, the average homeowner would pay almost $126 in additional taxes annually. It would also generate over $75 million to expand child care services in the area. The Austin region has the most expensive child care in Texas, according to a recent Texas Workforce Commission report. TWC data reveals the average cost of child care for just one child in Travis County is an estimated $13,300 annually—comparable to the cost of in- state tuition at The University of Texas at Austin. “With tuition for early education being more expensive than rent and more expensive than college, low- and moderate-income families have to make really hard choices,” said Colin Swanson, the executive director of nonprofit early child care center Mainspring Schools. Staff working on the Creating Access for Resilient Families, or CARES, initiative have pinpointed
TravCo exceeds state averages
Capital area State
Licensed in-home providers cost Licensed child care centers cost
$60
$50
$40
$30
$20
/
0
SOURCES: TEXAS WORKFORCE COMMISSION, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS/ COMMUNITY IMPACT
The why
The rocky state of child care is nothing new, said Cathy McHorse, an early childhood consultant and advocate with the Affordable Child Care Now coalition. The problem is multifaceted, she said, describ- ing a systemic breakdown since even before the COVID-19 pandemic. A lack of state investment is one reason for the long wait lists for child care financial assistance in Travis County, said Cody Summerville, chief executive officer of advocacy group Texas Associa- tion for the Education of Young Children. “One of the drivers of the waitlist, not just in Travis County but across the state, is that the state of Texas currently only invests what is the minimum requirement by the federal government into child care,” Summerville said. Federal relief dollars initially helped stave off the economic hits for child care providers, Sum- merville said; however, pandemic funding expired at the end of 2023. Today, state subsidy funding often does not cover the full cost of tuition, leaving providers or families responsible for the remaining balance. Just under half of providers, or 45.5%, offer subsidy enrollment in the capital area, according to TWC 2023 data.
Child care deserts A child care desert is a ZIP code where the number of children younger than 6 with working parents is at least three times greater than the capacity of licensed child care providers in that area.
620
290
71
MOPAC
183
360
130
290
Child care desert
71
35
SOURCE: TEXAS WORKFORCE COMMISSION/COMMUNITY IMPACT
N
to operate at full capacity, which leads to lower enrollment and lower revenue for a business that has many fixed costs, such as rent and power. Operating at reduced capacity also leads to longer waiting lists for families looking for open spots. In Travis County, there are 14 ZIP codes that do not have enough child care providers or the capac- ity to service the children living there, something known as a child care desert. “The challenges of affordability are also making it difficult to recruit staff,” McHorse said.
Another significant barrier to affordable child care stems from staffing issues, Summerville explained. Child care is a “labor heavy” industry, where operators spend between 60%-80% of oper- ating costs on their workforce, he said. “The average wage of a child care teacher in the state of Texas is about $12 an hour,” Summerville said. “As you can imagine, $12 an hour just is not very competitive in today’s job market, and so it is tricky to retain your workforce with those low wages, and it’s also hard to replace your workforce as turnover occurs.” Without a full staff, child care centers are unable
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