Texas 2036 released a report Aug. 11 finding that while Texas invests billions of dollars each year in childcare and early childhood programs, oversight of the system is split across at least five state agencies, leaving no single entity accountable for the system as a whole.
The report, “The State of Childcare in Texas,” recommends consolidating oversight of the state’s childcare system under a single entity with a mandate to coordinate regulation, funding and outcomes measurement, according to a news release from the nonprofit public policy organization.
“Texas already spends billions on early childhood programs, but no one is responsible for the system as a whole,” said Charles Miller, director of health and economic mobility at Texas 2036, in the release. “That’s not a criticism of any one agency. It’s the result of a structure that split responsibility five ways without assigning accountability for the outcome.”
The organization said the report examines the childcare system from the perspectives of families, employers, providers and taxpayers. Texas-specific economic modeling done for the report estimates that childcare-related workforce disruptions, such as absenteeism and turnover, cost Texas employers approximately $7.9 billion each year.
Among families earning less than $35,000 annually, childcare costs consume 19% of monthly income, and close to half of Texas parents paying for childcare report having to sacrifice quality for affordable care, according to the release.
Among other findings cited by Texas 2036: 56.7% of Texas parents of young children surveyed said childcare costs have influenced their family planning; the state has approximately 2.4 million children younger than 6, but public programs including pre-K, Head Start and childcare subsidies serve only about one in six; and at least 95,000 children were on waiting lists for childcare subsidy assistance as of late 2024.
The organization also said the state cannot currently link subsidy participation to kindergarten-readiness outcomes, and its statewide voter survey found voters preferred framing childcare as an education investment over a workforce investment, 56% to 38%.
The group pointed to the current legislative interim as a window to act, noting that the Governor’s Task Force on Early Childhood Care and Education and ongoing Sunset reviews of the Texas Workforce Commission and Health and Human Services Commission are positioned to take up governance changes during the 2027 legislative session.
“Texas can now see this system’s challenges from all angles — what families pay, what providers are up against, what employers lose, and how the state’s own programs fit together,” said Tracy Ayrhart, vice president of data and research at Texas 2036, in the release. The full report is available on the Texas 2036 website.