Less than a year after voters approved a countywide tax rate hike to expand affordable child care, Travis County officials are rolling out the first wave of local investments for the Creating Access for Resilient Families, or CARES, initiative.
Category: Child Care
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More than 2,000 Austin-area kids will get free or low-cost after-school care this year
Twenty-seven schools in the Austin area are getting free or low-cost after-school care programs this year thanks to funding from a tax rate increase Travis County voters approved in 2024.
The programs will open at schools with the most economically disadvantaged students in the Austin, Manor and Del Valle school districts. More than 2,000 pre-K and elementary school students are expected to participate. The county is working on getting after school programs to Pflugerville ISD, too, according to county documents.
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Travis County, school districts partner to expand child care access
The first contracts funded through a tax rate increase approved by voters in November and aimed at improving access to child care could be approved Tuesday by Travis County commissioners.
Three school districts — Austin, Del Valle and Manor — will use $4.85 million each year to fund 2,000 child care seats during and after the school day. Commissioners also are expected to approve a letter of intent to nonprofit Workforce Solutions Capital Area that $24.4 million will go toward contracts with child care providers next year.
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Funding for up to 1,000 new slots for child care may be coming soon for Travis County residents
The first significant round of Travis County’s new child care funding could be available as early as fall 2025, following a tax rate increase approved by voters last November.
The Travis County child care subsidy waitlist is over 5,000 children, according to Texas Workforce Solutions, or TWC, reports.
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Capital Area Retention and Elevation Program awards $1.2 million in bonuses to child care providers
We’re awarding $1.2 million in bonuses to our child care providers through our Capital Area Retention and Elevation (CARE) Program!
Why it matters: CARE provides financial incentives to eligible early learning providers to support staff retention, motivation, and satisfaction. We want to recognize and reward providers’ dedication to high-quality childcare and strengthen the long-term well-being of families in our community.
This year, we selected 51 providers with a total of 483 staff for awards, ranging from $1,000 to $3,000 per person, depending on how many people each provider employs. Providers can distribute bonus funds to their staff based on individual performance and contributions.
What’s happening: These providers participate in Texas Rising Star, a quality rating and improvement system for Texas early childhood programs. All center based and home based child care providers in Texas can be certified in Texas Rising Star if they meet certain eligibility criteria. Programs that participate in Texas Rising Star meet higher quality standards than many other child care programs.
Katelyn H. is a director at a child care center in Austin. Katelyn H. is a director at a center caring for 67 children receiving scholarships. Her center has participated in Texas Rising Star for 10 years.
“This has helped teacher retention, especially when we cannot afford to give raises each year,” Katelyn said.
Other providers shared how CARE impacts their Early Learning Programs:
“It has been such a blessing to my program. It has made such a positive impact to my center to have the extra assistance to provide more quality childcare to my children,” Tanya Joiner said.
“This funding helps providers because the limited funding and the low enrollment we are not able to give raises to our staff do to limited funds. With this funding we are able to show appreciation as well as retain good teachers and directors,” Ramonica Williams said.
“It allows us to hire with sign-on bonuses and allows to keep our current staff and show appreciation. This is very helpful for centers to show appreciation and support to their staff,” Alejandra Gardner said.
Any licensed or registered provider of child care services in Austin/Travis County may apply to have a provider agreement with Workforce Solutions Capital Area Child Care Services. As part of our commitment to quality child care, Workforce Solutions Child Care Services offers quality rated programs, quality initiative activities and other community resources to child care providers who strive for quality. Learn more about how to participate.
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Travis County approves new Workforce Solutions child care agreement
Commissioners on Tuesday approved a new agreement with Workforce Solutions for child care services and stipends for early childhood educators.
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High cost of child care slammed for draining economy of profits and workers
Workforce Solutions, which is part of the Texas Workforce Commission, provides workers with professional development and child care assistance. According to the agency, it served more than 4,900 children in 2023, including at licensed centers and homes.
Still, it had over 5,000 children on its waitlist as of July, Lawson said. Roughly 40% of the waitlist was comprised of children under the age of three, indicating a higher demand for child care for infants and toddlers. In a survey by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 55% of parents who voluntarily left their jobs did so when their kids were two years old or younger.
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Austin-Round Rock area unemployment rate increases slightly, symposium set to boost local workforce skills
The Texas Workforce Commission reported earlier this month the unemployment rate in the Austin-Round Rock Metropolitan Statistical Area rose from May 2024 to June 2024.
The unemployment rate rose to 3.8%, or 56,143 unemployed residents. Despite this uptick, Austin’s unemployment rate remains below the state and national averages of 4.5% and 4.3%, respectively.
In response to the unemployment rate, the Workforce Solutions Capital Area will host a director and teacher symposium in August in collaboration with Workforce Solutions Rural Capital Area.
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For Providers: Texas Workforce Commission launching a new case management system for the Child Care Services program
On July 1, 2024, the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) will launch a new case management system for the Child Care Services (CCS) program—Texas Child Care Connections (TX3C). Below is more information about upcoming changes to policies and procedures resulting from the TX3C launch.
Transition Period
The system we use to manage parent and provider files will be unavailable starting at 6pm on Tuesday June 25 through June 30. There may be delays during the transition period in the following services:
- Processing new provider agreements/updates
- Payments
- We may not be able to answer questions regarding parent eligibility until after June 30
- Processing waitlist applications beginning June 14
New Statewide Application for Families
TX3C will include an online statewide application for parents who are applying to the Child Care Services (CCS) program. The application is web-based and mobile device–friendly. Be advised our local online waitlist application will be removed from our website on Monday June 17 and will be temporarily unavailable. The new Statewide application will be made available on our website on July 1. Workforce Solutions Capital Area CCS will continue to determine eligibility for CCS families, manage a waiting list, authorize services, and pay child care providers.
Improvements to Provider Payments
Beginning July 2024, providers will receive payment for authorized child care before care is provided (similar to private-paying families that pay tuition beforehand). Additional details regarding prospective payments:
- Payments will cover two-week periods, Monday-Sunday; you will be paid for the days that a child has been authorized to attend your program at the beginning of each two-week payment period.
- Payments for children enrolled during the 2nd week of the payment period will not be made in advance but will be paid on the next payment run, typically 1-3 weeks after service.
- The first two-week payment period beginning July 1 will be transitional, and payments may not be issued until July 5.
- The Texas Workforce Commission will issue a Statewide payment calendar. This calendar will detail each two-week payment period and the schedule for issuing provider payments for each cycle. We will share this calendar with you as soon as it is made available.
- If you receive an overpayment for a child whose authorization changes or ends during a period for which payment has already been made, we will adjust a future payment(s) to recover the overpayment.
- TX3C will determine each child’s age group based on the first day of the two-week billing cycle. In other words, if a child has a birthday that places them in the next age group, the change will not be applied until the beginning of the next pay period.
- TX3C will base the prospective payment on the provider’s location (Board area), rather than the child’s residence. The change will ensure that payments reflect the market rates and costs where the provider operates. In other words, child care providers in Travis County managed by Workforce Solutions Capital Area will be reimbursed based on Capital Area Board’s rates. This applies even if the child is referred by neighboring Workforce Solutions Rural Capital Board.
Parent Share of Cost
To align with the new two-week payment schedule, Parent Share of Cost (PSoC) will be recalculated to weekly fees. We will inform you of each family’s weekly PSoC amount, which will be converted from their current monthly rate, in the coming weeks.
Because the PSoC will appear as weekly deductions on your statement, collecting fees on a weekly or bi-weekly interval will help ensure your payments are accurate. This change will also affect our local non-pay reporting requirements that allow providers to be reimbursed for unpaid PSoC, when reported timely. We will notify you of the new reporting procedures in the coming weeks.
Child Attendance
CCS staff will use the new time and attendance features in TX3C to monitor attendance. In accordance with your agreement, you must ensure that parents record attendance directly in TX3C or through an approved child care management system (CMS) that uploads CCS attendance data to TX3C. Additionally, please make sure the new attendance system or CMS is accessible to parents so they can record attendance. More information about the attendance tracking system is available at https://tx3c.info.
Your payments are not affected by a child’s occasional absences—payment is based on the child care authorized. However, a child’s eligibility may be affected if they are not consistently attending.
Absence tracking will resume on July 1 and children with more than 40 total unexplained absences in a 12-month eligibility period risk the loss of their child care scholarship. Unexplained absences may include:
- Absence that is not due to a child’s documented chronic illness or disability, or to a court-ordered custody or visitation agreement; or
- Attendance not recorded by parent that cannot be explained, except if the attendance reporting system is not available through no fault of the parent or provider.
Child Transfers
Effective July 1, voluntary transfers of children between child care providers are not permitted until the start of the second pay period following the parent request, approximately 3-4 weeks after the request was submitted. Limited number of exceptions may be approved for reasons like valid health and safety concerns, court-ordered visitation, etc. Additional guidance will be forthcoming.
Expanded Age Groups
A new state law requires TWC to match age groups for provider payments with Child Care Regulation age groups and TX3C will support this change. You will be able to designate rates for more age groups, as demonstrated in the following table.
Rate Groups before July 1, 2024 New Rate Groups effective July 1, 2024 Infant: 0–17 months Infant-0: 0–11 months
Infant-1: 12–17 monthsToddler: 18 months–2 years Toddler-1: 18–23 months
Toddler-2: 2 yearsPreschool: 3–5 years Preschool-3: 3 years
Preschool-4: 4 years
Preschool-5: 5 yearsSchool Age: 6–*12 years School Age: 6–*12 years
(no changes for this age group)*Eligible child with disabilities may be served up until the age of 19 Please wait to initiate any changes to your rate agreement. We will request updated rates from providers in the coming months and will ensure all rate addendums are completed by the TWC deadline of October 1.
Stay up to date on the progress of this change by visiting our website at wfscapitalarea.com. CCS families have also been notified of these upcoming changes. To see a copy of the parent notification and learn more about the changes unique to families, please click here. If you have questions, you can contact us by e-mail at ccsproviderservices@wfscapitalarea.com or by phone at 512-597-7191, option 4.