AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas House Committee on Trade, Workforce, and Economic Development will discuss affordable child care Wednesday as state officials prepare to reduce the number of families eligible for child care scholarships in 2027.
The committee will meet at 10 a.m. Aug. 26 at the Texas Capitol in Austin. Members of the Texas Workforce Commission, which administers the state’s child care scholarship program, are expected to testify along with other witnesses.
The hearing comes after state leaders announced plans to reduce the number of families receiving child care scholarships, a federally funded program that helps low-income working families pay for child care.
The Texas Workforce Commission plans to serve more than 14,000 fewer families in 2027, according to Texans Care for Children.
The nonprofit has urged the commission to request enough funding to continue serving families and called on lawmakers to maintain funding for the program.
The child care scholarship issue is expected to remain a focus during the 2027 legislative session.
In 2025, lawmakers called for a task force to examine Texas’ child care system. Gov. Greg Abbott launched the task force in January and appointed Spurs Sports & Entertainment Chairman Peter J. Holt as its chair.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers also moved to provide an additional $100 million for child care scholarships.
Meanwhile, Children at Risk, a nonprofit that advocates for child care access, has identified child care shortages across Texas. Its analysis, which uses Texas Workforce Commission data, found persistent shortages in parts of East Texas and the Brazos Valley, including areas near Bryan and College Station.
