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Speaker 1: The trip Cast is brought to you by members of

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the Texas Tribune. Hello and welcome to the Texas Tribune

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trip Cast for December second, twenty twenty five. I am

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Matthew Watkins, editor in chief of the Texts Tribune, joined

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as usual by Eleanor Klibanoff Law and Politics reporter.

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Speaker 2: Hello, Hello, thank you for having me.

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Speaker 1: I got a little bit. I'm sure that I got

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through yah. We are joined this week by K through

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twelve reporter Jaden Edison.

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Speaker 3: Hey, Jaden Greens. Hello, how are y'all?

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Speaker 2: We were discussing in the newsroom. How great this sweatshirt looks.

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Speaker 1: On It is a sweater trip cast.

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Speaker 3: You're not watching on YouTube?

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Speaker 4: This is one to watch on you.

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Speaker 3: We look so cozy.

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Speaker 5: Anybody in Texas just waiting on his weather so we

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can put out our winter fits?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly.

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Speaker 1: Also joining us and also in a sweater, is David Fagan,

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director of Early Learning policy with Texans Care for Children.

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Speaker 4: Hello, David, Hey, good to see y'all, and I was

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delighted to see you all also in sweaters. I didn't

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know how I was gonna dress for this, but I

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feel good, I feel welcome, and I feel cozy, So

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I need to.

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Speaker 1: Talk David, the first Trip Cast guest to have played

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basketball with me.

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Speaker 3: Oh wow wow. On five and five.

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Speaker 1: It was an old game back in the day again,

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started by former Texas reporter now for the New York Times,

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Brian Rosenthal. We would play a weekly Saturday game Sunday game.

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Games still going on, although David David left us quit.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, well, you know, the invite stopped coming. I think

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maybe I played too well or something.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, the standard is too high.

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Speaker 3: I love it, I get it.

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Speaker 4: I don't want to embarrass anybody.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, we'll move on.

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Speaker 1: You know, maybe someday we'll have robbed down in on

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the show and we talk about my vicious block of

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him and the one toy he played in that game too.

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Speaker 3: He still talks about it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's why he left the Texas Tribune.

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Speaker 3: It is, yes, because I kept bringing it up.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yes, but that's not what we're talking about today,

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although maybe we can talk.

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Speaker 3: A little bit more about it.

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Speaker 1: Of the conversation tapes and said we were going to

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talk about early childhood care early learning, a topic near

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and dear to the hearts of many working parents such

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as myself and David as we were talking about earlier

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before we started on. If you are a parent in

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Texas where both parents work, you know about the challenges

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of finding adequate care for your children. I remember when

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I was in Dallas when we had our first kid.

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You know, one of the first things you are told

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is a soon to be parent, is you better get

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on a childcare wait list as soon as possible. Many

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of the places in Dallas at the time the wait

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list was more than nine months, So you actually needed

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to get onto the wait list when you were thinking

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about having a kid, not even when you found out

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you were going to have a kid. The problem even

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worse in rural areas or for low income Texans. I

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am going to cite a stat that is from David

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that says that eighty eight percent of working families with

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low incomes live in childcare deserts, where demand is three

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times greater than the availability of high quality childcare seats.

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Two notable things happened this legislative session in this regard,

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the first one being the legislature approved one hundred million

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dollars toward childcare scholarships in an effort to shrink the

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nearly ninety five thousand member waiting list for those scholarships.

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The money was spent, the waiting list did not shrink,

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thanks in large part to increased childcare costs. We'll get

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into that here in a little bit. Second, the state

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voted a little bit more not under the radar politically,

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but under the radar toward this issue to approve a

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one billion dollar school voucher program. It was designed and

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touted as a way to use state dollars to help

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kids pay for their private school tuition. But what was

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not discussed as much was that the vouchers can also

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be used for private pre k something that the comptroller

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confirmed last week, so that could be a major change.

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But I want to start first with you, David, on

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this scholarship issue. Lay out for me, first of all,

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just what this program was and how it works. Just

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you know how it has worked over the years.

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Speaker 4: So the Childcare Services program is managed by the Texas

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Workforce Commission, and it does so because it helps parents

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go to work. And the Workforce Commission is proud to

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have this as the largest line item of its budget

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is supporting this program. It provides financial aid, also known

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as scholarships or subsidies to eligible families who meet work

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and income requirements have a child under the age of thirteen.

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It gives them financial assistance so that they can go

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to work and their children can thrive in really high

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quality childcare programs. There's about thirty thousand Texas employers right

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now who have somebody working there who's there because they

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have access to one of these scholarships. So we know

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this is a really important program for the Texas economy

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and for Texas families. The funding has primarily come from

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the federal government the Childcare and Development Block Grant the

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Congress provides, but states around the country have infused additional

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dollars to serve more families. Prior to last session, Texas

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was not one of those states. Texas took the federal money,

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spent it, but did not add in any state dollars

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to serve more parents. We were excited that last session

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that changed, and as you said, one hundred million new

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dollars got invested into this program to serve more families,

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and we're excited that win happened, that it was bipartisan,

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But as we'll talk about, there's a lot more work

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to do to actually serve more families and bring down

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the very long wait list for that program, which sits

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at around one hundred thousand kids.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, can you talk a little bit about just the

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discussion about this during the legislative session. I mean, I

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gave sort of my own personal experience at the top

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of the show. But you know, was it a reflection

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of the childcare problems in Texas that led to this

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larger infusion of cash and how was that problem discussed

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among lawmakers and people who came to the capital to

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advocate for this.

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Speaker 4: Well, you know, I have been working on this issue

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in Earnest really since two thousand and seventeen or so,

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and I've sort of watched the journey of this in

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the Texas legislature where back then the conversation around childcare

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was almost exclusively on ensuring minimum health and safety standards

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were met by childcare programs. It was you guys might

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recall a big expose that was done by the Austin

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American statesmen around you know, children who had died in

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childcare programs, and that led to a series of reforms

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to try to crack down on unlicensed care. You know,

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there was some efforts to improve the nutrition standards in

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childcare but over the last few years there's really been

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a shift where lawmakers have understood, you know, we have

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a role too and actually ensuring families can afford high

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quality childcare, that the childcare that they can afford is

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not just safe, but supporting children's school readiness. And so

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going into session for really the first time, it was

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very clear that childcare was on the agenda. Both the

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House and Senate held interim hearings trying to tackle ways

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in which we can address this during the session. In

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my time, the Senate had never had a hearing on

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this topic during the interim, and so we knew that

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it was going to be a big priority. We didn't

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know how that would manifest, and you know, we worked

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with partners to really bring up this issue of the

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wait list, that there's children who are eligible for this

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program but are waiting for six months to two years

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because they're the lack of funds. This is not a

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program where every child who's eligible gets served. There's a

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certain number of scholarships we fund, and after that you

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have to wait for somebody to come off the program.

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And so there are families waiting because we don't have

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enough funds. You know, we told the stories not just

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of families who were struggling, but the families who actually

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benefited from this program. You know, we talked to a

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mom who was literally homeless before she got access to

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one of these scholarships. She was able to work a

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couple hours a week cleaning houses with her baby strapped

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to her because she had no childcare. She eventually got

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a scholarship. Now she's working full time, she's housed, and

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her child is in a really high quality program here

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in Austin. And we were able to tell stories like

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that and say, look at all of this program is achieving.

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Don't we want to see more Texas families benefit in

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the ways that these parents have. And so, you know,

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we also told the stories of frankly, lots of Republican

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led states around the country who to Texas and was

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really investing. And so between that, I think we were

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able to make a winning case that investing in this

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program is research based, it's popular, it's it's something we

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can do very simply in serving more parents. And so

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we were able to get that win. And I will

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say that the leadership of Representative Armando Wally was really key,

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as well as the speaker of the House and you know,

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the Appropriations Center finance chair chair women, chairwoman, and chairman.

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So it was a big bipartisan win for sure.

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Speaker 2: Two things I sort of want to get your your

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read on is like what shifted this conversation and move

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childcare into the more like mainstream political conversation here. Yeah,

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one being you know, the thing I covered for a

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long time, which was the you know, ban on abortion

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and sort of this attention that Republican lawmakers sort of

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felt called to address, you know, women's health issues, supporting families,

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sort of making good on some of these promises that

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they brought to bear, which sort of I've searched seen

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that play out of the last couple of years. The

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other one being, though that I'm not as clear on,

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is like the COVID pandemic and the way that that

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sort of felt like suddenly we were all talking about

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childcare in a way we hadn't been before.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, you're totally right. I mean it's not just in Texas.

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There was you know, we wrote a policy brief around

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as I mentioned, how different Republican led states have addressed

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this issue, and what you'll find is a lot of

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their big investments came right on the heels of you know,

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right after the pandemics sort of began in twenty one

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or in twenty twenty three, and so there has been

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an explosion of attention on this. I think there's a

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few reasons. One is the need for childcare became quite

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clear to people, many of whom were home with their

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kids all day. If their childcare program had to close,

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or you know, they had to take time off work

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to be with their kids at home, I think the

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need for childcare became very visible. The other thing that

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I think was really important was the federal government, under

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both the Trump administration and the Biden administrations, invested significant

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federal dollars into states to stabilize childcare. And what we

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found was that worked. It turned out that spending a

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lot of money to ensure that programs can retain staff,

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that they can receive funding so they don't have to

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rt increase costs on parents, that that's a very popular

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and effective way to help families go to work. So

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a lot of states saw once those federal dollars ran out,

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said what can we do to fill the gaps? And

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I think that it essentially served as an unintentional pilot

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program where states got to see, hey, if we invest

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money into these programs, we can get really good returns.

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And I think that's essentially opened the valve of investments

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that we're now seeing across the country.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's I think also worth at least making the

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point that there has been a political shift, there's been

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a willingness to invest more money on this. You know,

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it was one hundred million dollars, which is a big investment.

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You know, the state did spend fifty one billion dollars

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on reducing property taxes this year, so there's there's something

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about the priorities there. But it's also worth pointing out

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that as your report on this, David noted that this

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money was you know, not actually state money that was

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being added to this. It was unspent federal dollars from

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the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. That basically there

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was this pot of money that Texas had that had

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sort of decided not to spend, not to find a

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use for, and then they kind of decided, oh, maybe

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we should use it to boost this scholarship program.

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Speaker 4: That's right. Yeah, it took quite a journey. The House

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passed in its budget one hundred million of state dollars

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that it evolved into, as you say, these unexpended tan

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OF funds. Our opinion on this, frankly is that the

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parents who will benefit won't really know the difference that

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it came from an unspent tantiff pot or an unspent

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general revenue pot. I think that the point is lawmakers

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found a way to make this investment, and we know that,

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you know, states across the country are using TANAF dollars

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for this purpose, so it's not a stretch to say

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that this is a really valid use of those dollars

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when we have them. I think that moving forward, we

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should look at that uninspent tant IF pot as a

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way to fund this program, but also state general revenue

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and continue to explore other revenue streams because this problem

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is significant. This is not something that is a one

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session fix or a even one funding stream strategy. We

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have to figure out how to make investments at the

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state level, the local level. Philanthropy is going to continue

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to play a role. It's going to take a lot

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of resources to really get this problem addressed.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you're sort of addressing what was going to be

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my next question. Which is how much of the need

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is this filling, how how much of this is moving

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the needle in terms of the childcare challenges in the state.

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I mean, you know, you talk about a wait list

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of ninety five thousand kids, I would imagine there's a lot,

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a lot, a lot more families that you know are

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struggling to pay for childcare in Texas.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, no question. I mean, you know, maybe I'm burying

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the lead a little that, you know, we hoped that

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this investment, because of estimates that were provided by the

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Texas Workforce Commission during the legislative session, would essentially allow

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us to serve around ten thousand more children in the program.

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That was their estimates during the legislative session. However, after

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the legislative session, the Workforce Commission partners with the University

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of Texas, who conducts a survey to essentially figure out

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how much each of these scholarships costs, and that's based

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on the market rate of childcare. And what they unfortunately

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found was childcare costs are continuing to skyrocket and what

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that means is that the cost of scholarships skyrockets. And

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it's a simple math equation if each scholarship costs more,

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you can you know, you can't provide as many without

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increasing the amount of funds. So this hundred million dollars

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was just as essential as we thought it would be. Unfortunately, though,

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it was to prevent a reduction of the number of

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scholarships rather than to serve more families. So in fact,

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the urgency was actually even greater than maybe we presented

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during the legislative session, that we were actually at risk

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of having to serve fewer children in this program. Fortunately

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lawmakers came together to make this investment, but it's a

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reminder that we have so much more work to do

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to actually serve more parents in the program.

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Speaker 2: So if one hundred million dollars sort of held the

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line or prevented, you know, this program from taking a

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step back. Is there like a dollar amount you guys

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see that would like what would it cost to make

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that weightless zero?

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Speaker 4: You know, our goal has not been to make the

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weightless zero. I think that you know, even during the

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legislative session, we really tried to convey that the goal

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is to serve more families. You know, we can increase

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the wait lists just by doing a better marketing campaign, right,

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and that doesn't necessarily, but if we're serving more families,

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I think that's really the goal. So for us, I

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think we need to take this, you know, one step

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at a time and understand that it's going to take

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a number of years, a number of it's gonna take

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the state level, the federal level, the local level to

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really address this problem. In earnest, it's going to take

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us providing more funding for scholarships, but also doing more

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to bring down the cost of childcare so that this

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cost for scholarships doesn't continue to rise. You know, childcare

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programs are facing increased costs across the board, and parents

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are bearing the brunt of that right now. So we

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need to be able to tackle this one step at

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a time. I think we made good progress this legislative session,

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but lawmakers, I hope we're getting used to talking about

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this issue because it's not a one session conversation. Unfortunately,

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there's a lot more work to do.

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Speaker 3: Before we move on.

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Speaker 1: Can you just clarify, just to make sure I understand

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it correctly, who's eligible for this program?

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Speaker 3: How do you get it?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, so it's based on income. It's essentially eighty five

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percent of state median income, right, and you have to

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have a child under the age of thirteen. You have

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to be working or in job training, so there are

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work requirements in their income requirements. We also prioritize scholarships

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based on a number of factors, including if you have

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a child with a disability, or The legislature also passed

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to build a session that actually, if you're a child

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of a childcare educator, that you're part of this priority list.

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So we have priorities among those eligible children. But eighty

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five percent of state median income is what that main

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eligibility is. So a lot of families are eligible, but

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unfortunately the number of scholarships does not meet the demand.

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Speaker 1: And I would imagine there's a lot of families that

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don't even know that this programming exists.

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Speaker 2: Said you could double the weight list, probably with a

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good marketing campaign.

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Speaker 3: Yeah right, exactly.

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Speaker 1: Okay, let's pause for a second to hear from our sponsors.

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Then I want to bring Jaden in to talk about

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the school voucher angle to this. You can give every

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00:18:05,200 --> 00:18:09,519
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00:18:09,599 --> 00:18:14,440
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00:18:14,519 --> 00:18:18,839
at Texastribune dot org, slash donate all.

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Speaker 3: Right, Jaden.

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Speaker 1: So we talked about one hundred million dollars toward these

347
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scholarships through the Texas Workforce Commission. Of course, ten times

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that amount was allocated toward school vouchers. The big brunt

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of that conversation, the big conversation among lawmakers advocates of

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this was that this is needed for you know, parents

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who have their kids in public schools, you know, over

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the age of five, who maybe are unhappy or not

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being served well by those schools, wanting to get state

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help to go to private schools. Less discussed was the

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issue that has now come up since the state Controller

356
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has been in charge of setting the rules for how

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this money will be dispersed, and that is money that

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goes to three and four year rolds to go to

359
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PreK programs, particularly private PreK programs that you know are

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run you know, all all across the state. Tell us

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a little bit about that discussion and where the state

362
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landed on the issue.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, So I think it's important to understand kind of

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the process and the way things have played out. Right,

365
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So the law passes, which obviously says to framework for

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kind of how this is supposed to work. Now the comptroller,

367
00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:31,079
you know, Texas chief financial officers tasked with, hey, here's

368
00:19:31,079 --> 00:19:33,880
the law, here's the framework, now put this into action.

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Design kind of a set of basically rules that will

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allow you know, parents to be able to understand, for example,

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what kind of documentation you need to submit, how certain

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processes will work, things that it kind of gets into

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the details in the way that the law doesn't, right.

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And so what we've seen since the passage of the

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law was very much that process.

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Speaker 3: Right.

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Speaker 5: There was the introduction of proposed rules and also a

378
00:19:55,599 --> 00:19:58,680
public comment period for people Texans all across you know,

379
00:19:58,720 --> 00:20:01,559
to you know, for their insight and say hey, here's

380
00:20:01,720 --> 00:20:03,400
what we like, what we don't like, what you should change,

381
00:20:03,440 --> 00:20:06,799
what you shouldn't. And so what's happened in that process

382
00:20:06,880 --> 00:20:09,839
is that during the public coming period, they were about

383
00:20:10,119 --> 00:20:13,359
roughly two hundred to three hundred comments, right, and we reviewed.

384
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We were all the ones we could get right with

385
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about two hundreds. So and what we kept seeing was

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the overwhelming majority of those comments seemed to be from

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private pre K providers who were saying, hey, comtroller, you

388
00:20:25,240 --> 00:20:27,119
seem to have made a mistake, right, And what we're

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00:20:27,160 --> 00:20:30,480
seeing in the rules that you proposed, was that private

390
00:20:30,599 --> 00:20:33,799
pre K you know families or you know pre K

391
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families in general, you kind of allocated and put them

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in the bucket of two thousand dollars per student, which

393
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under the law is actually designated for homeschool students. And

394
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what the argument was is that, hey, the law is

395
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pretty clear, you know, pre K students are eligible for

396
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the full roughly ten thousand dollars amounts that you set

397
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aside for everybody else outside of homeschool. And so basically

398
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it went through that process and we arrived at you

399
00:21:01,119 --> 00:21:03,519
know where we did and the most in last week basically,

400
00:21:03,720 --> 00:21:06,440
which was the comtroller, you know, after going through the process,

401
00:21:06,480 --> 00:21:08,920
you know, going through the law and honestly hearing from

402
00:21:08,960 --> 00:21:12,839
the bill authors as well, basically setting in stone that hey,

403
00:21:13,119 --> 00:21:15,960
you guys are right. It is the full ten thousand

404
00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:20,319
dollars amount and as long as students kind of meet

405
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what are currently the free public pre K requirements, they

406
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are they're eligible for the full ten thousand dollars amount now.

407
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And just for clarification, for free public pre K, it's

408
00:21:29,799 --> 00:21:32,559
more of kind of a you know, for students for example,

409
00:21:32,559 --> 00:21:35,880
who are on free and reduced lunch students who you

410
00:21:35,880 --> 00:21:38,319
know are not fluent in English per se. If you're

411
00:21:38,359 --> 00:21:40,519
a child of a public school teacher or you know

412
00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:43,519
someone in the military, right, you be eligible. So there

413
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is a more kind of type framework around that. But

414
00:21:45,359 --> 00:21:46,960
basically that's kind of how we landed at where we

415
00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:47,400
are now.

416
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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I remember being a parent right and

417
00:21:52,039 --> 00:21:57,400
Zeomike daycare and being sort of shocked at the idea

418
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of I'm paying more in daycare tuition then I would

419
00:22:01,119 --> 00:22:04,759
be paying to send my kid for tuition to go

420
00:22:04,799 --> 00:22:06,920
to a state university in the state, right, Like, this

421
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is a massive cost. And I think this idea, I

422
00:22:12,880 --> 00:22:14,839
can certainly see why a lot of daycares, a lot

423
00:22:14,839 --> 00:22:16,640
of people would be saying, like, if you can make

424
00:22:16,680 --> 00:22:19,559
this ten thousand dollars available to us imediately, you know,

425
00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:22,440
pre K is a only a couple of years in

426
00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:26,720
that pre to five year you know, kindergarten time, that's

427
00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:31,200
that's a major benefit opportunity for families, you know, upper

428
00:22:31,200 --> 00:22:36,319
middle class families at but especially lower income families and

429
00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:37,599
things like that.

430
00:22:38,039 --> 00:22:39,079
Speaker 3: What was the argument.

431
00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:43,559
Speaker 1: Did they explain why they initially proposed spending less for

432
00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:44,480
those parents?

433
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Speaker 5: Yeah, you know what, It's interesting because there was a

434
00:22:46,799 --> 00:22:48,960
lot of conversations about this. I really don't think it

435
00:22:49,039 --> 00:22:52,640
was anything like intentional per se, right. I think what

436
00:22:52,759 --> 00:22:54,200
happened was and that's why you kind of have the

437
00:22:54,279 --> 00:22:58,359
rule making process was that you know, this was their interpretation.

438
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And really, when you go back and look the law, like,

439
00:23:00,720 --> 00:23:02,839
if you're looking for it, it is clear to say, right

440
00:23:03,039 --> 00:23:05,279
pre k ten k. But if you were, you know,

441
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to the average person just kind of glancing through, unless

442
00:23:07,839 --> 00:23:09,880
you were specifically looking for that, it maybe wouldn't be

443
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something that's the most apparent. And so in the controller

444
00:23:13,240 --> 00:23:15,759
has been very clear Acting Controller Kelly Hancock, you know,

445
00:23:15,799 --> 00:23:17,839
he said publicly right like, we're going to follow the

446
00:23:17,839 --> 00:23:21,000
intent of the law. And so it wasn't necessarily surprising

447
00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:23,160
to me that they changed it to the full ten thousand.

448
00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:24,839
I always expect that that would be the case, and

449
00:23:24,839 --> 00:23:27,240
I just think that this was just a situation where

450
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you go through the rule making process and you know,

451
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you had Representative Brad Buckley and then former Senator Creighton's

452
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now Texas Tech chancellor who submitted written as someone to said, hey,

453
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here's kind of just to clear up many confusion, here's

454
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what we were intending with this and then throughout the process,

455
00:23:41,559 --> 00:23:43,759
you know, they made the adjustment. And so again I

456
00:23:43,759 --> 00:23:45,680
don't think it was anything that was like intentionally we

457
00:23:45,759 --> 00:23:47,680
wanted to be this. It just seemed to be more

458
00:23:47,799 --> 00:23:51,160
again from my perspective that there are so many aspects

459
00:23:51,240 --> 00:23:53,880
of the law, and so the rule making process allowed

460
00:23:53,880 --> 00:23:55,559
them to kind of get it right as intended.

461
00:23:56,200 --> 00:23:58,599
Speaker 2: There's always sort of that period. I mean, I think

462
00:23:58,599 --> 00:24:02,400
it comes up of like more and controversial ways than this,

463
00:24:02,519 --> 00:24:05,359
But where the you know, what the legislators wrote into

464
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the law and how the people on the ground actually

465
00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:10,319
have to enact it. Sometimes it's like they're not necessarily

466
00:24:10,400 --> 00:24:13,359
seeing all of the potential roadblocks and then putting into action.

467
00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:16,200
You're like, oh, okay, you like not change the law,

468
00:24:16,279 --> 00:24:18,759
but look at the what the intent was at the time.

469
00:24:18,799 --> 00:24:19,599
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I'll tell you.

470
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Speaker 5: I mean that was the one thing I was looking

471
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at with the rules, right, was how much will the

472
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controller on any issue right deviate from what the law

473
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says right?

474
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Speaker 3: The law shits a foundation.

475
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Speaker 5: Is the controller in a way going to go above

476
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and beyond kind of what that says?

477
00:24:33,200 --> 00:24:33,359
Speaker 4: Right?

478
00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:35,000
Speaker 5: And so that's why I kind of land at the

479
00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:37,279
conclusion that I have because really on a number of

480
00:24:37,319 --> 00:24:41,759
issues the controller make clear and the way they actually structure,

481
00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:45,200
you know, the final rules. The office offered like actually

482
00:24:45,240 --> 00:24:48,480
like detailed commentary to almost like each comment submitted and

483
00:24:48,599 --> 00:24:51,599
explained its rationale for hey, here's why we're going to

484
00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:55,440
decline or accept this suggestion, and again it it. You know,

485
00:24:55,519 --> 00:24:57,359
I think it was pretty clear they you know, they

486
00:24:57,599 --> 00:25:00,400
made it clear that hey, here's you know what, here's

487
00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:02,200
what the law says. Is what the bill author says,

488
00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:03,599
so you know we'll follow that.

489
00:25:03,759 --> 00:25:07,319
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was just so struck when I learned about

490
00:25:07,359 --> 00:25:09,920
this kind of pre K option, about this and my reaction.

491
00:25:10,039 --> 00:25:11,640
I had a few different reactions. I'm going to sort

492
00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:14,079
of like throw them out there to y'all to get

493
00:25:14,119 --> 00:25:16,160
you to react to. The first one was just why

494
00:25:16,200 --> 00:25:19,559
didn't they talk about this when they were passing the bill?

495
00:25:19,720 --> 00:25:24,799
Because when this the knowing that it's available for private

496
00:25:24,799 --> 00:25:28,119
pre K, it feels to me like it opens up

497
00:25:28,640 --> 00:25:31,559
the pool of people who could benefit from this so

498
00:25:31,680 --> 00:25:34,039
much larger than it was before.

499
00:25:34,160 --> 00:25:34,359
Speaker 3: Right.

500
00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:37,640
Speaker 1: I'll just again bring my own experience in this. My

501
00:25:37,720 --> 00:25:40,240
kids go to public school. We're happy with our public school.

502
00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:42,119
We don't have any intentions of pulling them out of

503
00:25:42,119 --> 00:25:46,640
their public school. But my kids went to private pre K, right,

504
00:25:46,720 --> 00:25:49,079
and we would have been thrilled to join that. I

505
00:25:49,079 --> 00:25:51,839
would imagine that there's a lot of parents in that

506
00:25:51,920 --> 00:25:54,960
position now who maybe have no plans on sending their

507
00:25:55,039 --> 00:25:57,400
kids to private school, but are going to send their

508
00:25:57,480 --> 00:26:00,440
kids to the church down the street, or you know,

509
00:26:00,759 --> 00:26:04,240
some other kind of private you know, not associated with

510
00:26:04,279 --> 00:26:08,480
the school's system for pre K, who now might get

511
00:26:08,519 --> 00:26:11,640
significant help from this. So a just a little bit

512
00:26:11,680 --> 00:26:15,160
of confusion. Coalition, Yeah, why didn't you get those people

513
00:26:15,160 --> 00:26:17,519
on your side when you're advocating for this bill? But

514
00:26:17,599 --> 00:26:21,839
then also does this not create any concerns for the

515
00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:26,480
people who were advocating for this of we just dramatically

516
00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:29,319
increased the number of people who are going to want

517
00:26:29,359 --> 00:26:32,880
to have access to this program in a way that

518
00:26:32,880 --> 00:26:35,160
it's going to be a lot more competitive. And that

519
00:26:35,200 --> 00:26:38,119
one billion dollars we already knew was going to disappear

520
00:26:38,160 --> 00:26:41,480
pretty quickly, now maybe it will disappear.

521
00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:42,319
Speaker 3: Even quicker than that.

522
00:26:42,599 --> 00:26:43,799
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, I think if that were to have in

523
00:26:43,839 --> 00:26:46,599
this state, would totally welcome that outcome, right in terms

524
00:26:46,599 --> 00:26:49,440
of the demand, and I think, you know, the expectation

525
00:26:49,640 --> 00:26:53,240
is that you know, demand forward will go above what

526
00:26:53,279 --> 00:26:55,839
the appropriations are and so the different priorities of KI

527
00:26:55,880 --> 00:26:56,839
can and things of that nature.

528
00:26:57,039 --> 00:26:57,160
Speaker 3: Men.

529
00:26:57,200 --> 00:26:59,599
Speaker 5: I will say, the one thing with the way they

530
00:26:59,599 --> 00:27:02,400
struggle it is that like it's not you know, just

531
00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:04,519
a you know, a mom and pop kind of PreK

532
00:27:04,599 --> 00:27:07,920
provider can can pop up, right, it does require that

533
00:27:08,240 --> 00:27:10,440
you know, what are called education service providers. So in

534
00:27:10,440 --> 00:27:12,920
this case, whoever the pre K provider is right, does

535
00:27:13,039 --> 00:27:16,839
kind of follow the existing requirements for private PreK providers,

536
00:27:16,839 --> 00:27:18,880
which could be for example, I think think it's accreditation

537
00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:22,039
with the state that or had wrote a couple down

538
00:27:22,039 --> 00:27:24,119
as well, it's like good standing with the Department of

539
00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:27,599
Family and Protective Services, you know, different partnerships with you

540
00:27:27,599 --> 00:27:29,559
know a lot of them have existing partnerships with districts

541
00:27:29,599 --> 00:27:32,039
and things of that nature. So the framework that already

542
00:27:32,079 --> 00:27:35,240
exists for private PreK providers is also the framework that

543
00:27:35,599 --> 00:27:38,160
you know, those who you know want to you know,

544
00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:39,920
take part in this program are also going to have

545
00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:43,000
to follow. But it's also to your point, it is interesting.

546
00:27:43,359 --> 00:27:45,680
I don't have the magic answer as to as to

547
00:27:45,759 --> 00:27:47,640
why they didn't talk about it as much. I mean,

548
00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:50,039
there were so many different aspects, and you would think too,

549
00:27:50,079 --> 00:27:51,880
it would have been a talking point given like a

550
00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:54,519
lot of the talk about public school pre K funding, right,

551
00:27:54,559 --> 00:27:57,079
which is a whole that's a whole other conversation, you

552
00:27:57,079 --> 00:27:58,599
know that we could have, you know, you could have

553
00:27:58,640 --> 00:28:02,359
a whole hour long discussion you know about that. But yeah,

554
00:28:02,359 --> 00:28:04,319
it was interesting, and again it was one of those

555
00:28:04,359 --> 00:28:06,599
things that unless you were specifically looking forward in the law,

556
00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:09,079
it wouldn't have been apparent to you because I think

557
00:28:09,119 --> 00:28:11,880
a lot of the focus from lawmakers was on homeschool students.

558
00:28:11,960 --> 00:28:12,039
Speaker 3: Right.

559
00:28:12,079 --> 00:28:15,599
Speaker 5: It was two categories, right, you're you know, you're you're

560
00:28:15,960 --> 00:28:17,640
the average student who's going to get the average kind

561
00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:19,920
of ten thousand dollars or the up to thirty thousand

562
00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:22,599
if you know you're a student with the IEP, you know,

563
00:28:22,640 --> 00:28:25,599
student with a disability, and then the separate bucket for

564
00:28:25,680 --> 00:28:28,319
homeschool students. And so it wasn't kind of apparent again

565
00:28:28,400 --> 00:28:30,359
until you know, you go through two hundred and three

566
00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:34,119
hundred comments and literally clearly the private pre cab bodies

567
00:28:34,200 --> 00:28:37,000
knew about this because and they all copied and pasted

568
00:28:37,079 --> 00:28:39,759
the same messaging across the board. So clearly it was

569
00:28:39,759 --> 00:28:43,240
a very coordinated effort, and everybody kind of was in

570
00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:44,599
the know one kind of what was happening.

571
00:28:44,720 --> 00:28:51,079
Speaker 1: Yeah, the other thing. My other reaction to this was Wow,

572
00:28:51,240 --> 00:28:56,519
this this has sort of stealthily become the biggest state

573
00:28:56,599 --> 00:29:03,960
investment in you know, these childcareage topics that we've seen.

574
00:29:04,279 --> 00:29:09,480
I'm curious, David, what your reaction to my reaction to

575
00:29:09,599 --> 00:29:11,880
that is, Like, am I right in thinking that that's

576
00:29:11,920 --> 00:29:14,759
possibly the case? How do you feel about this scenario?

577
00:29:15,640 --> 00:29:18,880
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's it's going to be really interesting because and

578
00:29:18,920 --> 00:29:21,440
you know, you asked the question of why this wasn't

579
00:29:21,440 --> 00:29:23,559
a bigger topic during the session, And I do think

580
00:29:23,799 --> 00:29:26,039
this is something we run into in early childood education

581
00:29:26,079 --> 00:29:30,160
all the time, which is anytime it's a K through

582
00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:34,480
twelve discussion and pre K has implications. These sorts of

583
00:29:34,519 --> 00:29:37,480
issues pop up because the way we govern our pre

584
00:29:37,559 --> 00:29:39,720
K program. If you're a parent of a child of

585
00:29:39,759 --> 00:29:43,119
a four year old, your access points to education are

586
00:29:43,200 --> 00:29:44,920
very different than when you're a parent of a five

587
00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:47,000
year old. When you're a parent of a five year old,

588
00:29:47,039 --> 00:29:50,440
you have access to a universal kindergarten program that is

589
00:29:50,480 --> 00:29:54,079
available in every corner of the state for free. If

590
00:29:54,119 --> 00:29:56,119
you have a four year old. There are some families

591
00:29:56,279 --> 00:30:00,319
eligible for free pre K, but many families are on

592
00:30:00,359 --> 00:30:02,640
their own and they are looking at private options because

593
00:30:02,799 --> 00:30:05,039
there's not a public option available to them. I think

594
00:30:05,039 --> 00:30:09,240
it's really worth re emphasizing what Jayden said, which is

595
00:30:09,720 --> 00:30:13,519
the ESA program is universal, but for pre K it's not.

596
00:30:13,799 --> 00:30:17,519
It's still only those families who are eligible for public

597
00:30:17,559 --> 00:30:19,480
pre K, those who are on free and reduced lunch

598
00:30:19,759 --> 00:30:21,920
or meet one of the other eligibility criteria. So there's

599
00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:24,880
going to be a lot of parents who are parents

600
00:30:24,920 --> 00:30:27,279
of four year old who think great, I have access

601
00:30:27,359 --> 00:30:31,519
to financial aid for pre K, which these families really

602
00:30:31,559 --> 00:30:34,880
need because they don't necessarily have a public school option

603
00:30:35,039 --> 00:30:37,559
right now, but they're not going to be eligible for this.

604
00:30:37,640 --> 00:30:41,400
It's just those who are part of existing pre K eligibility.

605
00:30:41,440 --> 00:30:45,839
So I think we really need to watch and see

606
00:30:45,880 --> 00:30:48,480
how many families actually are able to navigate that. Because

607
00:30:48,759 --> 00:30:52,519
these other grades don't have the as restrictive of eligibility criteria,

608
00:30:52,839 --> 00:30:55,359
there's going to be a lot of implementation questions here.

609
00:30:55,680 --> 00:30:57,039
You know, one of the ways that you can be

610
00:30:57,039 --> 00:30:59,440
eligible for free pre K is to be a child

611
00:30:59,440 --> 00:31:02,079
who's homelandanguage is not English. That's done through a home

612
00:31:02,160 --> 00:31:04,279
language survey by the school district. How's that going to

613
00:31:04,279 --> 00:31:07,200
be done with an essay? We don't know yet. We

614
00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:09,720
haven't seen guidance on that yet. So I think that

615
00:31:10,279 --> 00:31:13,039
there's a lot of questions about how many children actually

616
00:31:13,119 --> 00:31:16,759
will ultimately end up being served that are for year

617
00:31:16,759 --> 00:31:19,960
olds and three year olds. I think that the demand

618
00:31:20,039 --> 00:31:22,960
is certainly significant, as we've seen from the Childcare Services Program,

619
00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:25,880
a lot of parents want access to financial aid for

620
00:31:25,920 --> 00:31:28,640
early childhood education. I think we don't know how many

621
00:31:28,680 --> 00:31:30,039
of them are going to end up with the essays,

622
00:31:30,079 --> 00:31:33,519
but I would remind folks that the Childcare Services Program

623
00:31:33,599 --> 00:31:36,839
is a financial aid program for parents to access childcare

624
00:31:36,880 --> 00:31:41,119
as well, and it has a much more generous eligibility

625
00:31:41,200 --> 00:31:43,440
than the essays do. So we're gonna have to see

626
00:31:43,440 --> 00:31:46,640
how all these puzzle pieces fit together, but we're curious

627
00:31:46,640 --> 00:31:48,000
to see how many families benefit.

628
00:31:48,559 --> 00:31:50,599
Speaker 5: I would say to add to I think the free

629
00:31:50,640 --> 00:31:53,680
public pre K requirements also limits it to three year olds, right,

630
00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:55,480
so you actually won't have the four year olds in

631
00:31:55,519 --> 00:31:58,279
the category as well, which is interesting. But it made

632
00:31:58,279 --> 00:32:00,400
me think something that David was saying earlier. We're talking

633
00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:04,000
about the scholarship right in and sort of the awareness

634
00:32:04,279 --> 00:32:06,440
right anytime. I think we all know this right when

635
00:32:06,480 --> 00:32:09,359
you're you've seen kind of these, you know, big programs

636
00:32:09,400 --> 00:32:12,960
that specifically target you know, low income families. One of

637
00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:16,279
the big hurdles, as was acknowledged here is the awareness component,

638
00:32:17,319 --> 00:32:20,079
and it'll be interesting to see it if that changes

639
00:32:20,119 --> 00:32:22,079
at all here, right. I think one of the things

640
00:32:22,119 --> 00:32:24,759
that voucher advocates had talked about, you know, one of

641
00:32:24,799 --> 00:32:26,799
the benefits they saw in this program was that hey,

642
00:32:26,799 --> 00:32:28,759
we actually have a whole year to get the word

643
00:32:28,799 --> 00:32:31,359
out about all the different benefits of it in ways

644
00:32:31,359 --> 00:32:33,519
that a state like Tennessee, for example, they passed their

645
00:32:33,720 --> 00:32:37,559
law and they were ready to roll you know soon after. Again,

646
00:32:37,599 --> 00:32:39,000
I don't know how much it's going to change. I

647
00:32:39,039 --> 00:32:41,720
think ultimately what you'll see is what we see, you know,

648
00:32:41,880 --> 00:32:44,920
with these huge universal programs, is that especially in these

649
00:32:44,920 --> 00:32:47,079
early years, you're going to see those like for example,

650
00:32:47,400 --> 00:32:50,160
look at for example, you had all these private pre

651
00:32:50,279 --> 00:32:53,440
K providers who had who had testified and said hey,

652
00:32:53,519 --> 00:32:56,079
this isn't right. Those are probably going to be the

653
00:32:56,519 --> 00:32:58,880
providers who go to families who will qualify and say hey,

654
00:32:59,480 --> 00:33:00,880
if you don't know about this. Hey, this is a

655
00:33:00,880 --> 00:33:04,960
benefit you can have, right, so initially you probably see

656
00:33:05,240 --> 00:33:07,279
you know, the students who ultimately benefit from it will

657
00:33:07,319 --> 00:33:09,759
be those who already in some way are connected to

658
00:33:09,759 --> 00:33:12,000
people who are kind of in the know, and it'll

659
00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:14,720
be a challenge for the state over time with the

660
00:33:14,880 --> 00:33:18,559
entire program, with the awareness component, like we see with

661
00:33:18,640 --> 00:33:19,839
all these other programs as well.

662
00:33:19,920 --> 00:33:24,000
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Okay, I want to test one more reaction with

663
00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:25,119
with you, David, which.

664
00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:28,079
Speaker 2: Is one may not have another kid to try to

665
00:33:28,079 --> 00:33:28,559
get this right.

666
00:33:28,640 --> 00:33:29,359
Speaker 3: That's question.

667
00:33:30,559 --> 00:33:32,920
Speaker 1: Don't worry, don't worry. That is that is not my

668
00:33:33,039 --> 00:33:38,160
reaction at all. Yes, you know, one thing we haven't

669
00:33:38,160 --> 00:33:42,359
talked about much lately is this. We've talked a lot

670
00:33:42,400 --> 00:33:44,960
about the financial struggle for parents. We haven't talked as

671
00:33:45,039 --> 00:33:50,039
much about the financial struggle for these actual daycare centers. Again,

672
00:33:50,279 --> 00:33:55,119
citing your report, childcare programs are operating on barely sustainable

673
00:33:55,119 --> 00:33:58,400
profit margins you say, typically less than one percent, which

674
00:33:58,400 --> 00:34:02,119
puts them at considerable risk of closure. That is, even

675
00:34:02,160 --> 00:34:06,160
though childcare educators are paid on average around twelve dollars

676
00:34:06,200 --> 00:34:10,239
per hour with little to know benefits. The challenge here,

677
00:34:10,360 --> 00:34:13,440
one of the issues that I have heard about as

678
00:34:13,480 --> 00:34:16,079
I have been an interested person in this subject, is

679
00:34:16,119 --> 00:34:18,320
the idea of the battle for three and four year olds.

680
00:34:18,400 --> 00:34:18,599
Speaker 3: Right.

681
00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:26,159
Speaker 1: One of the things that happens is in day care facilities,

682
00:34:26,239 --> 00:34:29,760
it's much more expensive to care for the infants than

683
00:34:29,800 --> 00:34:32,800
it is to care for the three and four year

684
00:34:32,840 --> 00:34:37,280
olds because the infants need more attention, they're less able

685
00:34:37,320 --> 00:34:39,679
to sort of, you know, obviously take care of themselves.

686
00:34:39,760 --> 00:34:44,840
You need more adults per child in that area. There

687
00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:47,960
has been a push, a very well intentioned push to

688
00:34:48,119 --> 00:34:51,119
get more three and four year olds into public pre k.

689
00:34:51,719 --> 00:34:54,480
But what that does is it takes away the sort

690
00:34:54,519 --> 00:34:59,719
of profit generators for the daycare operators and leaves them

691
00:35:00,239 --> 00:35:02,440
having to care for, you know, or care for a

692
00:35:02,519 --> 00:35:05,679
higher percentage of infants compared to three or four year olds,

693
00:35:07,400 --> 00:35:12,800
which either forces them to lose revenue, go out of business,

694
00:35:13,039 --> 00:35:16,639
or increase their prices for the infants and everything like that.

695
00:35:17,719 --> 00:35:21,280
Does this create a situation where maybe you can pull

696
00:35:21,559 --> 00:35:23,960
some of those three and four year olds back into

697
00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:27,599
these private daycare providers, which can make them more financially

698
00:35:27,679 --> 00:35:31,760
sustainable or allow them to make infant care more affordable

699
00:35:32,920 --> 00:35:36,760
for you know, the general population. What do you think

700
00:35:36,800 --> 00:35:37,960
about that possibility.

701
00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:41,719
Speaker 4: David, Yeah, I mean, I do want to just speak

702
00:35:41,800 --> 00:35:44,519
quickly about you know, your point about the struggle that

703
00:35:44,679 --> 00:35:46,719
truck care providers are facing, because it is significant. Again,

704
00:35:46,760 --> 00:35:49,039
that is why the scholarship costs are going up. You know,

705
00:35:49,079 --> 00:35:52,159
they're facing rising labor costs. They're paying around twelve dollars

706
00:35:52,159 --> 00:35:55,199
per hour, but they're losing staff to BUCkies and Amazon

707
00:35:55,400 --> 00:35:57,920
and all sorts of places, so they have to try

708
00:35:57,960 --> 00:36:00,719
to compete, which means those costs go up, and that

709
00:36:00,760 --> 00:36:03,960
means parents pay more. They're rising food costs if childcare

710
00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:06,679
program provides food. We all can look at our grocery

711
00:36:06,679 --> 00:36:08,960
bill and see that that's going to affect childcare providers.

712
00:36:09,119 --> 00:36:12,840
Insurance is crushing right now, so childcare programs are facing

713
00:36:13,079 --> 00:36:17,320
rising insurance costs, rent property taxes they face that as well,

714
00:36:17,639 --> 00:36:20,639
and parents are bearing the brunt of all of those increases,

715
00:36:20,719 --> 00:36:25,039
right And so, just like we would never rely on

716
00:36:25,800 --> 00:36:29,280
tolls to pay for our entire highway system, relying on

717
00:36:29,440 --> 00:36:32,360
just parents to pay for the full brunt of early

718
00:36:32,440 --> 00:36:36,559
care and education leads to these really unfortunate outcomes that

719
00:36:36,639 --> 00:36:40,239
we see. And so I understand deeply the pain that

720
00:36:40,320 --> 00:36:43,840
childcare providers are feeling and the hope that these these

721
00:36:43,880 --> 00:36:47,199
opportunities give. I would say about just you know, the

722
00:36:47,480 --> 00:36:50,599
idea that we need to consider pulling you know, folks

723
00:36:50,599 --> 00:36:53,079
from these public settings and ensure that they return to

724
00:36:53,159 --> 00:36:56,360
private settings. First of all, I think it's important to

725
00:36:56,480 --> 00:36:58,840
remind us why they choose these public settings, which is

726
00:36:58,840 --> 00:37:00,679
that they can afford them. And I think we want

727
00:37:00,679 --> 00:37:03,199
to make sure that families can afford high quality options

728
00:37:03,239 --> 00:37:05,199
in a variety of settings, whether that be a head

729
00:37:05,199 --> 00:37:09,679
start program, a childcare program, a for profit nonprofit. We

730
00:37:09,719 --> 00:37:11,440
also want to make sure parents, if they want to

731
00:37:11,519 --> 00:37:13,400
keep their kid at home, have the resources to do that,

732
00:37:14,840 --> 00:37:17,880
and the public schools in many cases a good option

733
00:37:17,960 --> 00:37:20,000
for them. I also think it's important to remember that

734
00:37:20,119 --> 00:37:22,000
only about half of four year olds in our state

735
00:37:22,039 --> 00:37:24,400
are enrolled in public pre K, so there are plenty

736
00:37:24,400 --> 00:37:27,400
of four year olds to go around, and I think

737
00:37:27,440 --> 00:37:31,280
we should make sure that they can afford and access

738
00:37:31,320 --> 00:37:34,159
these high quality programs, and many of them will choose

739
00:37:34,280 --> 00:37:36,719
private options if they have the ability to. And for

740
00:37:36,719 --> 00:37:38,159
three year olds, I will say it's even less. It's

741
00:37:38,159 --> 00:37:40,119
only around eleven percent of three year olds are enrolled

742
00:37:40,119 --> 00:37:44,280
in public schools, so there's plenty of children. I don't

743
00:37:44,280 --> 00:37:47,360
think it has to be a competition between these settings.

744
00:37:47,400 --> 00:37:51,119
I think we can do more to make childcare and

745
00:37:51,199 --> 00:37:55,880
preschool more affordable, more high quality across settings, and I

746
00:37:55,880 --> 00:37:58,320
think the legislator took some promising steps, but yeah, we

747
00:37:58,360 --> 00:37:59,159
have a lot more work to do.

748
00:38:00,400 --> 00:38:02,400
Speaker 5: Can I ask one good question that David, I'm curious

749
00:38:02,519 --> 00:38:04,199
like to you. And one of the things I've heard

750
00:38:04,199 --> 00:38:06,440
though about the pre k thing is is just a

751
00:38:06,519 --> 00:38:09,239
general concern. It's something like an optic conversation right where

752
00:38:09,239 --> 00:38:14,239
it's like, even after this legislative session, the state still

753
00:38:14,320 --> 00:38:17,800
isn't funding public pre k at a full day level, right,

754
00:38:17,840 --> 00:38:19,559
which I know has been some of the concern of

755
00:38:19,639 --> 00:38:21,679
advocates and whatnot. And so you're going to have some

756
00:38:21,760 --> 00:38:24,559
who come out and say, well, clearly, if the will

757
00:38:24,639 --> 00:38:26,360
is there, you can get it done because you've set

758
00:38:26,360 --> 00:38:30,239
aside money now for private PreK providers you know, to

759
00:38:30,280 --> 00:38:31,760
be able to benefit from this. How do you look

760
00:38:31,760 --> 00:38:34,159
at that kind of argument and that kind of debate

761
00:38:34,199 --> 00:38:36,039
that folks will have Avialy.

762
00:38:37,480 --> 00:38:41,360
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I think that there there's a lot

763
00:38:41,400 --> 00:38:45,000
of rea. Like I said, I think from a parent's perspective,

764
00:38:45,039 --> 00:38:47,199
the way we do things doesn't seem to make a

765
00:38:47,239 --> 00:38:49,559
lot of sense. If you have a four year old,

766
00:38:49,960 --> 00:38:52,800
you are lost in trying to figure out what is

767
00:38:53,280 --> 00:38:55,480
an option for you and your family. You're trying to

768
00:38:55,519 --> 00:39:00,480
figure out how to cut costs to or this. Do

769
00:39:00,519 --> 00:39:03,000
you quit just one of you quit your job so

770
00:39:03,039 --> 00:39:05,000
that you can just stay at home with your kid

771
00:39:05,039 --> 00:39:07,320
because the costs for care are so expensive. But then

772
00:39:07,360 --> 00:39:10,039
the moment your child turns five, it's like, Okay, great,

773
00:39:10,079 --> 00:39:12,559
now I have a universal program that I can enroll in.

774
00:39:13,159 --> 00:39:15,079
I think that a parent of a four year old

775
00:39:15,079 --> 00:39:16,440
and a parent of a five year old feel like

776
00:39:16,480 --> 00:39:19,760
their needs are similar, but the way the state responds

777
00:39:19,840 --> 00:39:22,400
is quite different, whether they be in public schools or not.

778
00:39:22,440 --> 00:39:26,039
So I think whether you're a superintendent or a childcare

779
00:39:26,239 --> 00:39:29,239
program director, you have a lot to say that, hey,

780
00:39:29,239 --> 00:39:31,159
the state needs to do way more than we're doing,

781
00:39:31,679 --> 00:39:34,559
and we are ready to play a role in helping

782
00:39:34,639 --> 00:39:39,119
provide those high quality options for families because I just

783
00:39:40,000 --> 00:39:43,320
I really just don't think that. I think the competition

784
00:39:43,440 --> 00:39:46,559
that gets presented between these sites is really missing the mark.

785
00:39:46,639 --> 00:39:50,360
Like I think everybody struggling to meet the needs of

786
00:39:50,400 --> 00:39:55,800
these families because we're not investing enough in famili's ability

787
00:39:55,840 --> 00:39:59,559
to access these programs. So our perspective at Texans Care

788
00:39:59,599 --> 00:40:01,480
for Children it is that we want families to be

789
00:40:01,519 --> 00:40:05,320
able to afford an access private settings, public settings, and

790
00:40:05,400 --> 00:40:07,719
we want them to have the resources to figure out

791
00:40:07,719 --> 00:40:09,360
what best meets their families' needs.

792
00:40:10,199 --> 00:40:11,760
Speaker 3: Well, I think we found the solution here.

793
00:40:11,800 --> 00:40:15,079
Speaker 1: You mentioned that you know, the employees can get better

794
00:40:15,119 --> 00:40:17,320
wages at BUCkies, and I think we just need to

795
00:40:17,320 --> 00:40:20,280
put childcare and all the BUCkies. Yeah right, they're in

796
00:40:20,320 --> 00:40:21,519
rural areas.

797
00:40:21,239 --> 00:40:25,760
Speaker 3: Right, they're everywhere, very popular. Yeah, building new ones every day, exactly, exactly.

798
00:40:25,760 --> 00:40:27,960
All right, great job everybody. Yeah, solved.

799
00:40:28,280 --> 00:40:32,480
Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, I think thank you so much David for

800
00:40:32,960 --> 00:40:36,119
I think what has been a really informative discussion. Thank

801
00:40:36,159 --> 00:40:39,400
you as well to Jaden and Eleanor. Thank you to

802
00:40:39,599 --> 00:40:42,559
our producers, Rob and Chris, and thank you to our sponsors,

803
00:40:42,599 --> 00:40:46,119
the Texas Tribune Membership program Texas Tribune dot org slash

804
00:40:46,199 --> 00:40:50,400
donate to keep this podcast and all of our journalism

805
00:40:50,519 --> 00:40:53,519
free and available to anyone who wants to access it.

806
00:40:53,960 --> 00:40:55,000
Speaker 3: We'll be back next week.

807
00:41:07,960 --> 00:41:08,199
Speaker 4: Yeah,