Highlights 77th Texas Legislature - Senate

___ HEALTH AND HUMAN
/Child Care
UMAN SERVICES/Child Care
77 th Texas Legislature
Requires the Texas Workforce Commission (commission) to select one or more vendors to operate pilot
programs in three different areas of the state under which child care is provided by operators of eligible
family homes to children under four years of age. Requires each pilot program to include at least 10
operators of eligible family homes. Requires at least one pilot program to be located in a rural area.
Requires each board in an affected area of the state, after selection of the vendors, to administer and fund
the pilot program operating within that area, subject to guidelines established by the commission. Requires
each of those boards to allocate a portion of the board's federal child care development funds to pay the
costs of the pilot program operating within that area.
Requires the commission to select vendors based on a competitive procurement process. Requires a
vendor to have at least seven years of relevant experience to be eligible to participate in a pilot program.
Prohibits the commission from implementing the pilot program in a manner that in any way has the effect of
limiting parental choice regarding state-subsidized child care.
Scholarships for Early Education Teachers - H.B. 1309
by Representative Villarreal
Senate Sponsor: Senator Shapleigh
Requires early education teachers who receive scholarships funded by the federal Child Care Development
Fund to complete their obligated eighteen months of early education teaching in child care facilities that
accept federal Child Care Development Fund subsidies and are located within the attendance zone of a
low-performing school campus or in an economically disadvantaged community.
Grants to Local Workforce Development Boards for Child Care Projects - H.B. 1348
by Representative Villarreal
Senate Sponsor: Senator Shapleigh
Authorizes the Texas Workforce Commission to make grants available on a one-time basis to local
workforce development boards to enable the boards to design and implement child-care demonstration
projects.
Requires that these grants be used for expanding child care services in under-served rural workforce
areas; creating or expanding existing pilot programs based on demonstration models from other states that
provide strategies for successfully recruiting and retaining child care providers; creating pilot programs to
assist low-income, at-risk parents receiving child-care services; and developing initiatives that foster school
readiness in young children.
Senate Research Center 107