Plurality voting

Texas is cutting the number of children served by its federal Child Care Services subsidy program by nearly 10% in 2027, adding about 14,000 families to a waitlist already exceeding 100,000. The Texas Workforce Commission says per-child costs have outpaced the program's budget, driven partly by a 2021 law, House Bill 2607, that required subsidized providers to meet Texas Rising Star quality standards. Participation in the higher-cost tiered program jumped from under 30% to nearly 75% of providers, raising average monthly costs per child from $581 in 2022 to a projected $904 in 2027. The mandate relied on now-exhausted federal pandemic funds rather than new state investment, a gap critics warned about at passage. A one-time $100 million state infusion was absorbed by inflation. The issue has drawn attention partly because the bill's House sponsor, state Rep. James Talarico, is now running for U.S. Senate.