County commissioners have taken their biggest step yet towards getting families tangible access to child care following a voter-approved tax increase to fund sweeping investment in that sector last November. Of the $75 million approved last year, the county has awarded $21 million in two contracts with Capital Area Workforce Solutions to provide direct scholarships to families and gap funding to prop up inadequately state-subsidized providers.
Currently, Workforce Solutions serves about 3,000 children with a network of 300 providers, but there are thousands of families still waiting to receive child care. The current waitlist time listed on the website is two years. The new contracts will provide at least 1,000 more children with child care, making a significant dent in what was an almost 5,000-person waitlist this time last year.
“This is huge,” said Commissioner Brigid Shea at Tuesday’s meeting. It’s the biggest investment the county has made so far since the Affordable Child Care Act passed last year in the wake of federal and state funds drying up after the pandemic. The county approved short-term investments in May, geared toward providing out-of-school-time services like daycare for families. And, in August, the county approved interlocal agreements with Austin, Del Valle and Manor school districts to provide child care and after-school services to an estimated 2,000 youth. The long-range plan for the rest of the $75 million is yet to come, but first drafts will be presented to the court in November…