Opinion: Affordable Childcare Now – A Community Call to Action for Travis County

Austinites have a unique opportunity to make a lasting impact on the lives of our youngest children and their families with effects felt both immediately and into the future. In May, the Travis County Commissioners Court unanimously approved the Travis County CARES Resolution, the first step toward a November ballot measure that will provide long-term, reliable funding for child care and afterschool solutions benefiting thousands of our most vulnerable children and families. Recognizing the critical need to ensure working parents have access to high-quality affordable child care and afterschool programs, community leaders have united to form the Affordable Childcare Now coalition, a broad coalition convened by the United Way for Greater Austin to support concrete solutions in Travis County. Please join us.

I know how strong early learning programs, beginning at birth, can change the trajectory of children’s lives. With over 50 years of experience encompassing all aspects of early childhood education, including Head Start, public and private preschool, and child care, I’ve witnessed firsthand how a child’s future success – or lack thereof – can be dictated by a family’s ZIP code. Ninety percent of a child’s brain develops by age 5, yet public funding for early learning programs during this critical period is limited. Investing in quality early education to improve a child’s life from the outset is undeniably one of the smartest investments we can make.

Improving access to quality child care has a one-two punch. Children benefit, but so do parents and employers. Lack of access to high-quality child care is too often the primary barrier keeping parents out of the workforce. Many working families, especially those with multiple young children, cannot afford the costs of child care, which in Austin averages more than $1,000 a month. Families with two children under the age of 5 frequently spend up to 30% of their household income on child care alone. Over 4,000 children from low-income families are on a waiting list for child care subsidies in Travis County, with an estimated two-year wait. The lack of accessible child care disproportionately affects Black and Hispanic families, deepening existing inequalities. Without affordable child care, parents struggle to maintain steady employment, or pursue education and training programs, while young children may enter school lacking skills needed to succeed.

This is not just an issue of affordability; it’s a barrier to economic stability and growth for Travis County. Businesses face challenges in recruiting, training, and retaining top talent. When the Commissioners Court met, officials highlighted the child care crisis, revealing a $9.39 billion economic loss annually in Texas due to inadequate child care.

The best way to assure early learning programs deliver a high-quality program is to improve the pay and working conditions of the child care workforce. Child care teachers, predominantly women of color, earn less than a living wage and have an annual turnover rate of nearly 40%. This turnover disrupts the continuity of care for children, negatively impacting children’s development and creating additional stress for families. By investing in this workforce, we can improve the quality of care and provide stability for children, families, and employers. The Travis County CARES initiative will improve quality and reduce staff turnover through training and increased compensation for child care teachers.

Our county commissioners have stepped up. They voted unanimously to move the conversation forward so that Travis County CARES can appear on the November ballot. Citizens of Travis County now have the opportunity to provide our youngest children with a high-quality early learning program, assure parents who want and need to work can do so, and reinvigorate our workforce by providing high-quality child care and afterschool care for working families. This initiative will show the rest of the state and country that Travis County cares about its children, families, and the child care teachers who are the heart of the early learning system.

It is time for our community to unite and advocate for Travis County CARES to be on the ballot, ensuring access to high-quality early education for every child.

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Dr. Libby Doggett served as the deputy assistant secretary for policy and early learning in the U.S. Department of Education during the Obama administration and spent 10 years prior to that at the Pew Charitable Trusts working across the country to improve early learning systems at the national, state, and local level.