Rising cost of state quality rules helped push this fall's cuts to Texas child care aid

A 2021 decision to tie Texas child care subsidies to higher-quality centers, made without new state money to pay for it, is one reason thousands of low-income families are now being turned away, The Texas Tribune reported Thursday.

The Texas Workforce Commission, which runs the federal Child Care Services program, announced in August that the cost per child had grown beyond what the program could cover. The agency will serve a little under 10% fewer children statewide in 2027. That is expected to put about 14,000 more children on a waiting list that already tops 100,000.

The 2021 law

House Bill 2607 required any child care program that takes subsidized children to be certified in Texas Rising Star, the state's quality rating system, which pays providers more per child as they move up its levels. Before the law, fewer than 30% of providers took part. Today nearly 75% do, according to the commission.

Legislative analyses at the time said the change would cost the state nothing and pointed to federal pandemic relief money to cover any increase. Those federal dollars carried a deadline: they had to be used up by the close of 2026.

The Legislative Budget Board puts the average monthly cost per child at $904 in 2027, up from $581 in 2022. A one-time $100 million boost lawmakers approved in 2025 was absorbed by inflation, the advocacy group Texans Care for Children told the Tribune.

Two views

Kim Kofron of the advocacy group Children at Risk said the requirement was meant to ensure the lowest-income children land in high-quality programs. Tim Kaminski, president of the Texas Licensed Child Care Association, said lawmakers knew in 2021 where it would lead and did nothing, and that the system needs a steady funding source.

Providers describe the strain from the other side. One East Texas owner of two 4-star centers told the Tribune she loses teachers to fast-food jobs paying $15 an hour while she pays $12, and must constantly replace classroom materials to keep her rating.

Texas generally puts in only the minimum needed to draw federal child care money, the Tribune reported.

Sources

The Texas Tribune