Editorial: Texas daycare centers and parents need help. The Legislature can provide it.
If a budget is a ranking of state spending priorities, then assuring quality daycare for Texas children and relief for their cash-strapped working parents is sadly at the bottom of the Texas Legislature’s list.
Despite a record state budget surplus of $32 billion and the pleas of nearly three dozen child welfare advocacy groups, state lawmakers are nearing adjournment without a commitment to help stem an exodus of low-paid early child care workers from the profession. Their exit is causing child care facilities to close, driving up daycare costs that already stretch family budgets to the breaking point and further constricting a tight Texas labor supply as parents choose caring for their children over keeping a job.
Advocates are asking lawmakers for $2.3 billion to shore up early child care in Texas. Rep. Armando Walle, a Houston Democrat who sits on the House Appropriations Committee, has submitted a request for that amount in the 2024-2025 state budget cycle hoping it will be included in the final budget approved by the legislature later this month. It’s a lot of money, and some will question why private child care businesses should receive tax money to pay their workers and keep their doors open. Such government bailouts are certainly not unprecedented, but the money has typically flowed to big businesses such as banks, the auto industry or the airlines. Child care facilities that...
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