John Cullen and Peter J. Holt: Quality child care now within Texas' grasp

(John Cullen is a partner with Capstar Partners. Peter J. Holt is CEO of Holt Cat and chairman of Spurs Sports & Entertainment.) Child care is the small, silent engine that drives Texas businesses. It is as simple as this: If our young can’t access quality child care, much of the Texas workforce can’t return to work. The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the essential role child care plays in our economy. It is the overlooked sector that makes all other work possible. With a billion-dollar infusion by the federal government dedicated to child care, we now have a unique opportunity. First, to ensure that necessary child care locations are open so families can return to work, and second, to enhance and ensure the quality of that early learning and care.

Together these three bills will enhance Texas’ ability to increase the quality of early education, ensure accountability for how state dollars are spent on child care and provide support to enhance the child care workforce. Half of child care providers in Texas participate in the child care subsidy program, but only 20 percent qualify as “quality” child care, as defined by Texas law. State Rep. Angie Chen Button, R-Richardson, has filed House Bill 1792 to expand the state’s capacity to verify the quality of child care providers in the Texas Rising Star Program and therefore expand families’ access to quality child care. House Bill 2607, filed by state Rep. James Talarico, D-Round Rock, ensures all subsidized child care programs will participate in the Texas Rising Star quality rating system, which will provide accountability for public funds allocated to the child care sector. Child care is all about the people who directly provide care to kids, and child care educators are among the lowest paid people in the Texas workforce. State Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, has filed House Bill 619, which is designed to support the child care workforce and raise compensation and education of child care workers, thereby ensuring that a more talented and better trained staff is teaching our young.