The Texas Workforce Commission votes Sept. 8 on setting aside two of the tests a child care provider has to pass to earn the state quality rating that decides what Texas pays to place a subsidized child there. No public document yet says which providers the waiver would cover, and the deadline to sign up to speak by video passed Sept. 4.
Texas Rising Star is the rating a provider must carry to take state child care scholarships; the Legislature made it mandatory in 2021. Under the certification rule, a provider needs a permanent, nonexpiring license from the state’s child care licensing office, plus a year of licensing history without too many serious violations and without being under corrective action. The Sept. 8 item would set both of those requirements aside. Providers who cannot meet them can still join at an uncertified “Entry Level” for up to two years, or longer with a waiver, while they work toward a rating.
Commissioners have done something like this before. In November 2023 they waived the permanent-license requirement for already-rated home-based providers moving from a registered home permit to a licensed home permit at the same address, after staff found the rule was blocking home providers who wanted to take more children. That waiver ran six months per provider and carried an end date. The agency’s waiver rule lets the commission set aside a child care rule at the request of someone the rule directly affects, if it finds the waiver helps a parent, a contractor or a provider and does not harm child care.
What is not public is the request behind this one. The agency posts backup memos for rule items on each meeting’s page, and the Sept. 1 page carries one for every rule item on that agenda. The Sept. 8 page says information will be added when available. Nothing there or in the notice names a requester, a provider, or how long the waiver would last.
Also up for a final vote: cleanup amendments to the rules for the state program that helps Texans 55 and older who are blind live independently at home. The agency says the changes align the rules with a rewritten policy manual and cost nothing; comment closed Aug. 10. A revised notice filed Sept. 3 dropped the five items the agency had flagged as conditional — higher pay for vendors serving people with disabilities, two rounds of federal reemployment money, the child care reimbursement rules and a slate of local board nominees — leaving 15. Watch for whether the waiver memo posts before the vote.
Meeting at a glance
- When
- 2 p.m. CT Tuesday, September 8, 2026. Docket 36. The operative notice, TRD 2026005314, was filed September 3 at 4:19 p.m. and revises an August 31 filing for the same meeting by removing five items.
- Where
- Room 244, Texas Workforce Commission building, 101 E. 15th St., Austin, and by Zoom.
- Governing body & chair
- Texas Workforce Commission — three members appointed by the governor to six-year terms, one each representing employers, labor and the public. Joe Esparza is chairman.
- Format
- Regular commission meeting. Public comment is taken near the top; virtual speakers had to register by 5 p.m. September 4. Closed session is possible on personnel, litigation and security; action is taken in the open.
- Live video
- Zoom webinar; the notice asks attendees to enter a name and email address to join.
- Full agenda
- Secretary of State Open Meeting Viewer · agency agenda
Commission members
- Joe Esparza — chairman, employer seat; former deputy secretary of state.
- Brent Connett — public seat; Austin; the governor’s former deputy appointments director.
- Alberto Treviño III — labor seat; Harlingen; retired U.S. Border Patrol agent.
Roster taken from the governor’s appointment releases — Esparza named chairman and Connett appointed September 26, 2025, Treviño appointed January 9, 2023 — and cross-checked against the agency’s February 2026 organizational chart, because the agency’s own commissioners page has been out of date. Steve Pier has been executive director since February 2026. Meeting contact: Erin Guzman, Office of General Counsel, (512) 936-3671.