The Texas Workforce Commission will meet Aug. 25 to adopt a rewrite of the rules governing the state’s child care scholarships, including a change that would end automatic eligibility for children whose families are homeless. Written comment closed July 6; anyone who wants to speak by video has to register with the agency by 5 p.m. Aug. 24, the day this article published.
Under the proposal the agency published in June, a family that meets the federal definition of homelessness would no longer qualify on that basis alone. Staff wrote that the federal phrase covering families “sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason” is broad and could take in families living with relatives, as many low-income families do. Homeless families would instead get 90 days of enrollment while they gather documents, then have to meet the same work, school or training test as everyone else.
The same package carries out a 2025 law that lets a local workforce board pay a child care provider its top rate no matter what the provider charges, so long as doing so does not push the board below the state’s target for the number of children served. Eligibility for that rate runs through Texas Rising Star, the state’s quality rating for programs that take scholarships. Other changes start the guaranteed 12 months of care when a child actually begins attending rather than when eligibility is approved, and give programs 18 months instead of 15 to earn their first star.
The vote lands two weeks after commissioners cut the targets those payments are measured against. The Texas Tribune reported Aug. 11 that the commission lowered the statewide goal about 9.5 percent for next year, from 146,736 children a day to 132,689, with more than 100,000 children already on waiting lists. Also on the agenda: the state’s plan for the federal program that helps unemployment claimants find work and tests whether they still qualify for benefits, a slate of statewide workforce spending decisions, and one docket of wage and unemployment appeals. A revised notice filed Aug. 20 removed the fiscal 2027 operating budget, the agency’s next funding request to the Legislature, a separate unemployment rule on missed appeal hearings, and a second appeals docket. The original notice had said those items would come off if the commission finished them Aug. 18; the revision does not say whether it did.
Watch whether commissioners adopt the homelessness change as written or send it back.
Meeting at a glance
- When
- 10 a.m. CT Tuesday, August 25, 2026 — docket 34. The notice was filed August 17 and revised August 20.
- Where
- Texas Workforce Commission main building, 101 E. 15th St., Room 244, Austin.
- Governing body & chair
- A three-member commission the governor appoints to six-year terms, with one member each representing employers, organized labor and the public. Joe Esparza, the employers’ member, is chair.
- Format
- In person and by video. Registration cards for in-person comment are at the door; virtual speakers must contact the agency by 5 p.m. Aug. 24.
- Live video
- Streamed on Zoom at the link in the notice; the agency posts materials and minutes for each meeting on its 2026 meeting page.
- Full agenda
- Secretary of State Open Meeting Viewer · commission meetings page
Commission members
- Joe Esparza — chair; employers’ seat; commissioner since 2023.
- Alberto Treviño III, Harlingen — labor seat; retired Border Patrol agent.
- Brent Connett, Austin — public seat; appointed 2025, term to 2031.
The roster follows the agency’s March 2026 organizational chart and the governor’s September 2025 announcement. The agency’s own commissioners page is out of date: it still lists Bryan Daniel as chairman, though he left in August 2025. Executive director: Steve Pier, appointed February 2026. Meeting contact: Erin Guzman, Office of General Counsel.