Travis County voters supported a tax rate increase to expand access to affordable child care. What happens now?

Last week, approximately 60 percent of Travis County voters approved Proposition A – a property tax increase that will expand access to affordable child care and after-school/summer programs for lower-income families. The tax increase ($0.025 per $100 valuation for a total ad valorem tax rate of 0.34 percent) will also support the development of child care-related workforce programs. However, child care advocates say there’s still more work to be done.

Earlier this year, the Travis County Commissioners Court unanimously voted to place Proposition A on the ballot, building off of a policy recommendation from the Austin cohort of the Children’s Funding Project Work Group. The Children’s Funding Project (CFP) is a national organization that aims to help communities fund access to high-quality child care. The Austin work group includes representatives from the city, Travis County, the Austin Early Childhood Council, United Way and other advocacy organizations, and it has studied the child care industry in Austin since 2022. The group shares many members with the Affordable Childcare Now coalition, which is managed by Cathy McHorse through United Way for Greater Austin, and includes local business leaders who support the economic benefits of access to child care.

The recent tax rate election is the latest in a series of initiatives to address the child care crisis in Austin and Travis County. Last year, City Council voted to make Austin the first Texas city to ensure a 100 percent property tax abatement for eligible child care providers and to expand zoning allowances for local child care facilities. And this week, the Employers for Childcare Task Force announced its priorities for the 2025 Texas legislative session, which center on making child care more accessible for working families statewide.

Now that Proposition A has passed, members of the work group and the coalition are focused on its implementation with the county.

“This is the first program of its scale in Texas, setting a precedent for meaningful support to working families and the economic health of our community,” Travis County Judge Andy Brown told the Austin Monitor. “We’re now working diligently to roll out services in phases starting in early 2025. Our county team is hiring dedicated staff, extending current contracts and designing and procuring expanded child care services for full countywide implementation expected in 2026.”

City Council Member Alison Alter provided additional context on next steps: “The county will now pivot to the implementation phase, which will include … partnering with local (child care) providers, establishing governance and oversight processes, and exploring the idea of a community advisory group comprised of parents and providers so they can provide feedback on how to best optimize the investments for potential iterations in the future.”

David Smith, CEO of United Way for Greater Austin, told the Monitor that he was grateful the community understands basic fairness. “With such a big margin of victory, the community showed that they understand how important it is that every child have the chance to start out at a level playing field.”

Smith said he believes the county is prepared to use the revenue effectively: “The county has the right talent and is fully equipped to ensure these funds are used for maximum impact: to expand the (child care) slots available for thousands of children, to build support for nontraditional hours so that someone who works early or late can have child care and (to) also build in support for high-quality child care.”

Advocates seem to agree that this programming is badly needed – with federal funds expiring, many communities are on the verge of a child care crisis. Alter, who authored the Council resolution to abate property taxes for eligible child care facilities last year, told the Monitor that Austin currently has 11 child care deserts.

“Without additional investment, this problem may become worse. Many child care providers, the majority of whom are women and women of color, may permanently close their doors. Our community loses money for every day we don’t fix this,” she said. “There are very few choices we make as policy makers with such clear and long-lasting returns for the individual, the community and our economy.”

Jaime La Fuente Garcia, president and CEO of the Andy Roddick Foundation, emphasized the economic necessity of child care, citing a recent estimate that Texas loses $9.4 billion annually because of child care accessibility issues. Families who need assistance with child care are currently facing a two-year waiting list for state subsidies to kick in, which delays many parents in returning to work.

Garcia told the Monitor that Proposition A is a first-of-its-kind initiative in Texas. Its revenue will benefit an estimated 10,000 children of all ages: An estimated 4,000 local students will have more access to after-school and summer programming, and 6,000 young children will gain access to early child care. The ballot item also supports investments in child care workforce and infrastructure, which will potentially expand the program’s impact even further.

“It was business leaders, community organizations, community members, and city and county officials who all made this happen,” Garcia told the Monitor. “It was a nonpartisan proposition that brought the community together to invest in our youth from cradle to career. All eyes across Texas and in other states were on Travis (County).”

Learn more about the coalition’s work at AffordableChildCareNow.com. See more policy recommendations from the Austin cohort of the Children’s Funding Project Work Group here.

Photo made available through a Creative Commons license.

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