Last week, Gov. Greg Abbott directed Texas state agencies to launch investigations into potential child care fraud, following allegations that a day care center in Minneapolis was receiving public funds but not providing services.
Routine audits to ensure public money is spent responsibly and appropriately are smart. The Texas Workforce Commission manages and distributes federal child care funds for low-income families, and taxpayers should be confident their money is going towards the services it is earmarked for.
While any amount of fraud is unacceptable and should be rooted out, investigations shouldn’t risk delaying subsidy payments for families who depend on this support for child care.
In Minneapolis, content creator Nick Shirley’s video outside Quality Learning Center where he pointed out a missing letter in the word “learning,” went viral. This was a bad sign for a center that is supposed to be educating and caring for young children.
Opinion
It’s unclear exactly what happened at Quality Learning Center. The facility has since closed and questions about whether the facility was open when Shirley stopped by to film his video or how many children the facility served remain unanswered. Local reporting months before the video raised concerns about violations at the day care center and other child care centers in the state, and reports indicated that there were weaknesses in anti-fraud oversight dating back to 2019.
In hindsight, there were indications that something was off, and regulators had warning signs before the video but were reluctant to acknowledge the problems.
The incident prompted the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to freeze federal child care funding to Minnesota and to require states to submit additional information to receive funding before the money can be funneled to providers.
This decision, as well as Abbott’s call for further investigation, not only impacts providers under scrutiny, it also risks delaying payments for families who rely on federal funds and who had nothing to do with the alleged misconduct. According to TWC data, over 140,000 children in Texas could be affected by these changes.
The Minnesota experience should serve as a cautionary tale as much as a justification for scrutiny in Texas.
Texas already faces a child care shortage, particularly in rural areas, where providers are limited. Subsidies help thousands of parents get affordable care for their children so they can work or pursue education while knowing that their children will be safe and cared for.
If there are bad actors exploiting the system, they should be held accountable. We need to find a way to root out fraud, but caring for families should be the most important goal.