08/14/2025
**🚨 The Texas Childcare Crisis: What Owners Need to Know 🚨**
Texas childcare providers are at a breaking point — and it’s not just about us, it’s about our kids, families, and economy.
📉 **Fewer Providers** – Texas has lost **27% of childcare programs** since before COVID. That’s thousands of centers & home daycares gone.
🏜 **Childcare Deserts** – More than **half of Texas counties** don’t have enough spots for the kids who need them.
* **88% of low-income families** live in areas where subsidized care meets less than 1/3 of the need.
* Nearly **95,000 children** are on subsidy waitlists — some waiting **over a year**.
💰 **Economic Impact** – Childcare shortages cost Texas **\$9–11 billion every year** in lost productivity & wages.
👩🏫 **Workforce Crisis** – Childcare workers earn about **\$12/hour** — often less than they’d make at retail jobs — making it nearly impossible to hire & keep staff.
**The Good News**
✅ \$100 million in new state funding for childcare scholarships.
✅ Property tax relief for eligible providers (SB 1145).
✅ More programs joining **Texas Rising Star** for higher quality & access.
**What We Still Need**
⚠ Higher reimbursement rates so centers can stay open.
⚠ More support for staffing & wages.
⚠ Long-term funding, not just short-term fixes.
💬 **If you’re a provider**: Get TRS certified, apply for tax relief, and connect with local advocacy groups — our voices are stronger together.
📢 **If you’re a parent or community member**: Advocate for funding, support your local providers, and help spread the word.
🖤 Childcare isn’t just “daycare.” It’s the backbone of our communities. Let’s protect it.
AS FAR AS TWISTED CEDAR CHILDCARE GOES, HERE ARE THE REAL STRUGGLES:
1. We do not qualify for the property tax exemption because our county commissioners voted against it without even bothering to reach out to a single childcare facility to determine how vital this would be to keeping operations going.
2. Every childcare that wanted to be able to take children who are on CCS had to become Texas Rising Star certified. Which means we have to spend more on materials, teachers, trainings, supplies etc to stay compliant. Once we were certified our rates went up to meet the scale provided by TWC, but the money wasn't there to cover those costs for care and ended up with a huge wait list for families, some still waiting to be approved and made it almost impossible for our private pay parents to afford.
3. INCONSISTENCY: When I say that I mean in payments. This past 12 months the payments from CCS and food service have been so inconsonant and unreliable that this section alone has closed more doors in childcare than any others. Our center has personally struggled with this and the rules keep changing to make it harder and harder for us to make any money at all.
4. Children leaving for public school at younger ages drastically reduces our profit margin. Childcare facilities actually lose money on the infant program, the real revenue begins in the pre-k classes.
5. Not being team players, last year a new program was introduced where childcare centers and school districts could partner together to open up more spots for children needing care and schools needing more spots for pre-k children. My center has personally reached out as well as the TWC rep that was helping work on this project for our center to every school within 20 miles from my center without a single response.
In a nutshell, if we want childcare to remain available for the foreseeable future for our county things have to change! Childcare ensures people can work and with more and more centers closing this will only ensure that there are less spots available for parents who need care. The proof to this statement lies in the Facebook groups where people are desperately looking for care and either cannot find a center taking children because they are full or their child's center closing.
I for one can no longer sit here in silence while this continues. I can guarantee you every single childcare owner in this county has poured their heart, soul and financial stability into running their center. Things have to change!
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