In the heart of Texas, where the cost of living should be more amigo and less enemigo, parents like Sasha Nelson are wrestling with the astronomical fees of child care that claim more than half of their monthly income. "The full price of it would be more than half of my monthly income, and that doesn't leave a lot for everything else when it comes to rent or utilities," Nelson told KVUE. Now, Travis County might be on the brink of passing Proposition A, an initiative that seeks to make child care a bit less like highway robbery and more like community-supported child-rearing.
It's not novel news that the high cost of child care locks numerous Texan parents out of the workforce. Prop A aims to tackle this issue head-on with a property tax increase of 2.5 cents per $100 valuation, explained Patrick Torres, executive director of nonprofit Creative Action. Torres, in a statement obtained by KVUE, says this increase "means our workforce is getting smaller," due to the prohibitive costs that keep caregivers home. However, not everyone shares the enthusiasm for this tax bump. Critics like Don Zimmerman of the Travis County Taxpayers Union equate the possible tax increases to death by a thousand cuts, projecting future hikes for other essentials like groceries and rent.
On the other side of the coin, Travis County Judge Andy Brown champions the proposition, heralding it as a bipartisan effort that's critical to bolstering the economy. Indeed, according to the Austin American-Statesman, Brown believes that investing in child care will manifest in "lower incarceration rates and health care costs and higher graduation rates." The data is dire: average care costs in Travis County hover around $13,000 per child, stringing along families below the federal poverty line, unable to afford these exorbitant expenses.
So what's at stake? Approximately $76 million annually to fund early childhood, after-school, and summer care for nearly 9,000 children, from newborn to 18, according to the Austin American-Statesman. More than just a cash injection, the fund is meant to juice up the current system, assisting childcare workers with better salaries and turning homespun care providers into licensed professionals. Still, Nelson, as a single mom pinching pennies to provide for her child, embodies the tensile strength required of parents awaiting the outcome of the November vote. “It’s anxiety-inducing. I have to figure it out one way or another. I can’t hold my breath for the elections or the waitlist; I have to be resourceful,” she told the Austin American-Statesman.
If the measure passes, it could forge a path to affordable child care for Travis County, a milestone yet unseen at such a scale in Texas. The verdict will rest in the hands of Travis County voters come November 5th when they decide whether to extend a helping hand to families struggling to uphold the fortress of modern parenting or tighten the purse strings to shield themselves from potential financial bleed-out.
