EL PASO, TEXAS (KFOX14/CBS4) — El Paso families seeking help paying for childcare are facing one of the sharpest reductions in the state, as the Texas Workforce Commission looks to cut nearly 2,000 seats in the childcare subsidy program.

Borderplex Workforce said there are not enough funds for the number of families seeking assistance. With the rising cost of living, families may have to find other ways to cover childcare expenses.

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Odette Flores-Rivera, Childcare Parent Services Director at Borderplex, said the reduction is tied to a drop in enrollment and local childcare costs. She tells us,

The drop in enrollment that was the info we were given that it is based on the number of children in the are and the cost of childcare per area one of the reasons it has dropped is because there is going to be an increase in the cost of childcare based on that market rate survey

Flores-Rivera said a market rate survey conducted by the Texas Workforce Commission, which shows a drop in enrollment in El Paso in recent years, contributes to the number of subsidy “seats” the city is being required to remove.

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New enrollment for CCS has been stopped, and families on the waitlist must wait until a slot becomes available to receive assistance. Flores-Rivera said people on the waitlist need to respond to periodic check-ins to keep their place.

Every 90 days, they receive an email from our system verifying if they are still in need of the services or not. It is crucial that they do answer it within those 90 days because, if not, it will remove them from the waitlist. They will have to reapply and be put at the back of the waitlist

The cuts are also affecting childcare providers. Jacquelyn Reza, the owner of the daycare Flowers in the Garden located in Central El Paso, warned the reductions could force centers to scale back or shut down.

The infrastructure of childcare here in El Paso, I do see that a lot of child care centers will have to close their doors or reduce their classrooms’ sizes, which in the long run, it can affect everybody, especially the workforce

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