6.1 Supporting the Child Care Workforce

Lead Agencies have broad flexibility to implement policies and practices to support the child care workforce. 6.1.1 Strategies to improve recruitment, retention, compensation, and well-being a. Identify any Lead Agency activities related to strengthening workforce recruitment and retention of child care providers. Check all that apply: i. [x] Providing program-level grants to support investments in staff compensation. ii. [x] Providing bonuses or stipends paid directly to staff, like sign-on or retention bonuses. iii. [ ] Connecting family child care providers and center-based child care staff to health insurance or supporting premiums in the Marketplace. iv. [ ] Subsidizing family child care provider and center-based child care staff retirement benefits. v. [ ] Providing paid sick, personal, and parental leave for family child care providers and center-based child care staff. vi. [ ] Providing student loan debt relief or loan repayment for family child care providers and center-based child care staff. vii. [x] Providing scholarships or tuition support for center-based child care staff and family child care providers. viii. [ ] Other. Describe: b. Describe any Lead Agency ongoing efforts and future plans to assess and improve the compensation of the child care workforce in the State or Territory, including increasing wages, bonuses, and stipends. In FY22 and FY23, Boards used COVID stimulus funding to provide incentives (bonuses, stipends, or other wage supplements) for 8,588 staff at 907 Texas Rising Star-certified providers. Boards may use their regular CCDF child care quality funds to support child care workforce compensation. TWC publishes the Child Care Quality Strategic Planning and Expenditures Guide (https://www.twc.texas.gov/sites/default/files/wf/docs/ccq-strategic-planning-and- expenditures-guide-twc.pdf) which includes information on using child care quality improvement funding for wage supplementation as well as recruitment/retention bonuses. Some Boards provide funding to Texas Rising Star-certified providers for wage compensation or pay stipends or retention bonuses directly to the providers’ staff. With many child care providers expressing a need for this type of support, TWC encourages Boards to implement this strategy as appropriate for the needs in their regions, which the majority do support. More information is available in Boards’ annual plans and quarterly reports for quality expenditures available online at https://www.twc.texas.gov/programs/child-care/data-reports-plans under the section titled, ￿Local Board Child Care Quality (CCQ) Funds: Annual Plans and Quarterly Expenditure Reports. c. Describe any Lead Agency ongoing efforts and future plans to expand access to benefits, including health insurance, paid sick, personal, and parental leave, and retirement benefits. Texas Rising Star standards includes a measure relating to compensatory supports that a child care program provides to their staff. Based on the number of compensatory supports the program provides, which may include health benefits, paid leave, and retirement benefits, determines the number of points awarded for that measure which may potentially affect the child care program’s overall certification. d. Describe any Lead Agency ongoing efforts and future plans to support the mental health and well-being of the child care workforce. TWC recognizes a need for mental health supports in the child care workforce and is exploring opportunities to provide supports. TWC is funding the AgriLife Extension Service to develop an Early Childhood Mental Health professional development series (10 hours) that will include training related to stress and self-care for teachers. TWC publishes the Child Care Quality Strategic Planning and Expenditures Guide which includes information for local Boards on using child care quality improvement funding for mental health and well-being of the child care workforce supports. More information is available in Boards’ annual plans and quarterly reports for quality expenditures available online at https://www.twc.texas.gov/programs/child- care/data-reports-plans under the section titled, ￿Local Board Child Care Quality (CCQ) Funds: Annual Plans and Quarterly Expenditure Reports. e. Describe any other strategies the Lead Agency is developing and/or implementing to support providers’ recruitment and retention of the child care workforce. TWC uses CCDF quality funds for a variety of professional development activities that align with statewide system goals. For example, TWC funds the Texas Early Childhood Professional Development Scholarship program, which offers financial assistance to help child care providers and educators earn a CDA® Credential or enroll in college credit courses to obtain an associate’s or bachelor’s degree. It also includes the Early Childhood Educator Apprenticeship (ECEA) scholarship. This model will support ECEAs with on-the-job training, tuition, or course fees for students enrolled in a registered apprenticeship program (RAP). The program assists educators in achieving progressive educational and career advancement by helping them attain stackable credentials in early childhood development and education. Additionally, the program child care providers in retaining well-qualified staff and meeting Texas Rising Star staff qualifications. In 2022, TWC awarded three planning grants for entities to expand existing or create new RAPs. In 2023, TWC awarded six RAP planning grants. The RAPs help early childhood educators earn a minimum of a CDA® Credential but could also lead to an associate or bachelor’s degree. Each grantee was required to register their RAP with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) before the end of the grant period. TWC is planning to release an additional grant opportunity to fund more RAP planning and implementation grants that will start in calendar year 2025. 6.1.2 Strategies to support provider business practices a. Describe other strategies that the Lead Agency is developing and/or implementing to strengthen child care providers’ business management and administrative practices. Child Care Business Coaching & Training: Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, TWC has invested over $50 million in free business coaching and training for child care owners, directors, and administrators. These programs have developed lasting materials (available in English and Spanish), including a free business training course and hundreds of free resources and videos. As these programs end in FY24, TWC plans to issue a request for applications to develop a smaller version of these programs to continue providing valuable support for improving business practices, including management training, budget development, and hiring and retaining staff. The training and resources previously developed will remain available for child care businesses. Shared Services Alliances (SSA): In June and July 2022, TWC awarded four grants totaling approximately $5.7 million to plan and implement SSA. The grantees: AVANCE, Inc., Collaborative for Children, Pre-K 4 SA, and Texas Association for the Education of Young Children (TXAEYC) used approximately six months to plan their Alliance (including selecting the services they will offer and recruiting members) and approximately 18 months to implement their Alliance. The grantees are using the full grant period to create a sustainability plan. Each grantee is providing a different portfolio of services to different provider populations and geographic regions. The grantees offer various services, including accounting support, marketing support, legal support, digital literacy support, human resources support, health benefits, and child care case management software. TWC awarded approximately $400,000 to Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs’ Opportunities Exchange project (OppEx) to provide ongoing guidance and support to the SSA grantees. The goal of this initiative is for SSA to become self-sustaining, as the programs realize savings through the shared services model. One of the grantees, TXAEYC, is piloting access to health insurance. TWC plans to offer funding for one additional year to the SSA and TA grantees. This initiative focuses on quality improvement. b. Check the topics addressed in the Lead Agency’s strategies for strengthening child care providers’ administrative business practices. Check all that apply: i. [x] Fiscal management. ii. [x] Budgeting. iii. [x] Recordkeeping. iv. [x] Hiring, developing, and retaining qualified staff. v. [x] Risk management. vi. [x] Community relationships. vii. [x] Marketing and public relations. viii. [x] Parent-provider communications. ix. [x] Use of technology in business administration. x. [x] Compliance with employment and labor laws. xi. [ ] Other. Describe any other efforts to strengthen providers’ administrative business: 6.1.3 Strategies to support provider participation Lead Agencies must facilitate participation of child care providers and staff with limited English proficiency and disabilities in the child care subsidy system. Describe how the Lead Agency will facilitate this participation, including engagement with providers to identify barriers and specific strategies used to support their participation: a. Providers and staff with limited English proficiency: Outreach (conferences, trainings, and professional development) is available as necessary to providers for whom English is not their first language. TWC requires Boards to provide translation and interpretation services to workforce customers. TWC and the Boards also provide informational materials to providers in Spanish and Vietnamese. Critical documents that are not available in Spanish include a Babel notice to inform customers how to access translation services. Boards with high concentrations of Spanish speakers also regularly provide Spanish-language options for providers who primarily speak Spanish. WD Letter 01-24, issued January 3, 2024, and titled Child Care Professional Development and Resources in Spanish requires Boards to ensure that professional development materials are available in Spanish. b. Providers and staff who have disabilities: TWC's TA Bulletin 287, issued January 17, 2018, and titled Training, Assistive Technology, and Accessibility provides Boards with guidance on serving individuals with disabilities. The guidance includes information about assistive technologies, people-first language, and TA resources. All resources that TWC provides online undergo an extensive review to ensure that they are accessible for individuals who are visually impaired.