More than one-third of San Antonio child care centers in the Texas Workforce Commission’s Child Care Services program could lose funding for subsidized child care slots as early as September.
For families receiving the subsidized child care in San Antonio, it could mean fewer slots would be available.
Texas allows that subsidy dollars go to any licensed child care center a parent chooses, but beginning on Sept. 30, all centers that receive state subsidies must get enrolled in the Texas Rising Star program, which means they meet a higher quality standard.
Child care centers must be Texas Rising Star certified or enrolled in the quality improvement program in order to offer slots to families.
Without state subsidies, early learning centers will likely be forced to raise their prices to parents in workforce solutions programs, reduce availability or close altogether, according to the United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County, which is helping get child care centers certified before the deadline.
The nonprofit said 39% of the licensed child care centers in San Antonio are not yet TRS certified.
Kumari Tapiador, director of The Learning Tree Academy, said she applied to the TRS program and is waiting to obtain certification. She said more centers are likely also waiting, but children will be displaced if centers choose to forego the required certification.
“The pool of seats is going to be even smaller for those parents,” Tapiador said of parents using child care subsidies to go to work. After the pandemic, many child care centers closed, reducing the number of slots available at child care centers.
It can take between three months and up to a year for a center to be TRS certified, said Kevin Femmel, spokesperson for the United Way. But he says centers that have applied for the certification won’t have their funding taken away.
The Texas Legislature enacted House Bill 2607 in September 2021 requiring all child care programs in TWC’s Child Care Services program to participate in Texas Rising Star. The commission adopted amendments the following year, which gave centers 24 months to comply.
In a Texas child care director Facebook page Tapiador is a part of, she learned that some centers are choosing not to comply with TRS accreditation due to extra administrative costs, but added that for centers that have most of their children on CCS subsidies can’t afford to not be TRS certified.
The TRS program calls for more staff-to-child supervision, which may include hiring more workers at some child care centers; changing classroom layouts, and more training hours from teachers, among other improvements.
San Antonio child care centers with at least 20% subsidized enrollment recently qualified for property tax cuts.
All CCS centers will be required to obtain entry-level designation and at least a Two-Star certification level within two years.
“If these children are in a center that has decided not to do the Texas Rising Star, then they’re going to have to find one that does, and most centers now are fairly full,” she said.
At The Learning Tree, all 200 slots remain full and waitlists are four to five months out. Tapiador says 33% of those slots are reserved for the Texas Workforce Commission’s child care program.
The TWC issues her center a base reimbursement per child at $220 per week for infants, $200 per week for toddlers and $190 for preschool students. TRS certification will increase those reimbursements.
