In November 2022, the Texas Child Care Strategic Plan Workgroup released recommendations to improve the quality of the child care workforce in Texas (hereafter “Workgroup Recommendations”). In support of these recommendations, the Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center estimated the true cost of quality child care (TCC) in Texas. These statewide average figures informed several of the concrete proposals included in the Workgroup Recommendations. This document updates and expands the cost estimates from the Workgroup Recommendations in two ways. First, we update our estimates of the statewide average TCC to incorporate the latest cost-of-living data (officially “regional price parities”) available from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). Second, we report TCC estimates separately for 26 regions within Texas, including all 25 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) as well as a single estimate for the portion of the state that does not fall within any MSA (i.e., predominately rural areas). Subsidy reimbursement rates are set by Workforce Region, and so localized estimates are vital for understanding disparities between current rates and the true cost of care. (author abstract)
Description:
Resource Type:
Reports & Papers
Publisher(s):
Country:
United States
State(s):
Texas