The Texas Child Care System is Broken — Texans Agree on How to Fix It

The Texas child care system is structurally out of sync with the needs of modern families.

Fixing it isn’t a partisan issue. It’s human: kids deserve the best care possible. It’s also practical: if parents can’t find reliable care, they can’t work. And that affects everyone, from small businesses to the broader economy.

Child care deserts exist statewide, meaning there simply aren’t enough licensed providers to meet demand. The result is a widening gap between families who need care and a system that can’t keep up.

Lawmakers in the 89th Legislature in 2025 made what many called a historic investment. The state added $100 million to child care scholarships and introduced new policies aimed at easing pressure on both families and providers.

But these steps, while meaningful, haven’t yet fixed the underlying cracks.

Waitlists for child care scholarships remain stubbornly high—often between 60,000 and 100,000 children—because new funding is frequently absorbed by rising operational costs rather than expanding access. Meanwhile, the economic toll continues to climb, with insufficient child care costing the Texas economy an estimated $11.4 billion annually in lost productivity.

In other words: Texas has started moving in the right direction, but it hasn’t caught up to the scale of the problem.

So, how can Texas build a system that shrinks child care waitlists and deserts?

Here are some legislative proposals that failed last legislative session, but are gaining traction among both Democrats and Republicans.

Proposals like SB 2979 and HB 5529 would have created a Child Care Innovation Pilot Program, allowing local workforce boards to partner directly with employers to expand child care in high-need areas. The focus is simple: connect child care supply to actual workforce demand—especially in fast-growing regions where the gap is most visible.

Support for these kinds of “innovation pilots” has come from across the spectrum. Nonpartisan groups like Texans Care for Children and Children at Risk have backed the idea as a high-potential solution. Even though the bills didn’t make it across the finish line in 2025, they remain a top recommendation heading into the 2027 legislative session.

Another solution is to expand tax credits for employers who either build an on-site child care facility or directly pay toward employees’ child care costs. Our original polling found that 82% of Texans support such initiatives. Proposals like HB 3191 and SB 1781 would have created these tax credits for businesses.

Another idea, SB 2164, would have taken it a step further—creating a partnership model where the state matches employer contributions toward child care, up to a set amount per child.

None of these proposals passed in 2025. But they clarified where agreement already exists. Across parties, industries, and advocacy groups, there’s a growing recognition that expanding child care access isn’t about choosing between government or the private sector. It’s about designing a system where both can work together.

And that may be the most realistic path forward—not a single sweeping solution, but a series of practical ideas that Texans can build on together.

— Alex Buscemi (abuscemi@buildersmovement.org)

Art by Matthew Lewis