Children dance and play while being cared for at the Center for Transforming Lives Arlington Child Development Center on March 28, 2025. The facility has a partnership with UTA which allows full-time students to apply for a child care tuition scholarship offered through the university.
Amanda McCoy
amccoy@star-telegram.com
Fewer Tarrant County families will be eligible for childcare subsidies as state officials cut funding and continue to grapple with inflation woes.
The Texas Workforce Commission, which manages the state’s Child Care Services program, recently voted to cut the program by 9.5%, meaning fewer children will be able to access childcare while their parents go to work or school. In Tarrant County, the drop in capacity will be 4.3% from this year to next year with a loss of 354 seats, according to TWC records. There will be 7,863 seats compared to 8,217 currently available.
Local workforce development boards, which distribute these subsidies in different regions throughout Texas to eligible families, are being directed to gradually roll back the number of children being served starting this year. The 2026 year ends on Sept. 30, and the 2027 year starts on Oct. 1.
The decrease in capacity of the families who are able to be served is a result of the cost of childcare increasing while budgets trail behind those rising costs, said Max Rombado, director of early learning policy at Texans Care for Children. The average cost of childcare in Texas exceeds $10,000 a year, according to the First Five Years Fund.
“When your funding for a program stays relatively stagnant — 2% (overall) increase in this case — and the median market rate for childcare has increased in Texas by 7.3%, the cost is outpacing the funding to keep things level. And that results in the pressure to consider reducing capacity to serve children through the scholarship,” Rombado said.
The 2027 budget for Tarrant County’s share of the state program is $96.8 million. The 2026 budget is just short of $96 million — accounting for an increase of less than 1%.
Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County referred the Star-Telegram to the Texas Workforce Commission when asked for comment. The Texas Workforce Commission did not respond to requests for comment.
Fort Worth-based Child Care Associates, which contracts with Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County to disburse local childcare subsidies, acknowledged the financial pinch being felt by both families and childcare providers.
“We know many families in our communities are feeling the pinch of rising household costs. Access to affordable, quality childcare remains essential for families to work and for young children to thrive. CCA remains committed to walking alongside families and childcare providers as we navigate these challenges together,” said President and CEO Kara Waddell.
Rombado noted how childcare access plays a pivotal role in the ability to start or grow a family while contributing to Texas’ economy. Texas is estimated to be losing about $9.4 billion annually because of childcare woes, according to a U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation study.
“We depend on childcare to help create the access to the workforce and to give children as early as 6 weeks of life access to quality care that makes a big difference in their outcomes as well,” Rombado said.
Rombado called on lawmakers to continue investing in childcare as the 2027 legislative session approaches in January. In 2025, there was a $100 million investment made toward state childcare subsidies and services with the goal of reaching more families, but inflation depleted those funds.
“The state wouldn’t be unprecedented in doing something this session for childcare scholarships. Those $100 million can play a role again this session in helping keep that scholarship access intact, and there’s other opportunities — whether it’s through general revenue or the rainy-day fund — to make a meaningful transfer that could provide sustainable growth to the capacity of these workforce boards to offer childcare scholarships,” Rombado said.
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Lina Ruiz covers early childhood education in Tarrant County and North Texas for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. A University of Florida graduate, she previously wrote about local government in South Florida for TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers.