Tag: Raising Travis County

Travis County is moving forward with its voter-approved child care fund. Leaders say the first contracts, worth nearly $5 million, will go to three school districts.

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.

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.

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.