For thousands of Dallas County families, affordable childcare remains out of reach. But voters won't get a chance to decide this November whether to raise taxes to help pay for it.
The recently formed Dallas Child Care Works Coalition — made up of faith leaders, childcare providers and organizations including United Way of Metropolitan Dallas — had pushed Dallas County commissioners to put a property tax increase on the ballot.
The proposed 3-cent increase was expected to generate about $132 million a year for childcare, according to data from the United Way of Dallas.
Advocates say the need is urgent. An estimated 9,000 to 10,000 eligible Dallas County children are currently on a waiting list for childcare financial assistance funneled through the state.
Dallas County commissioners decided not to put the childcare measure before voters. A separate proposal to raise property taxes to address homelessness is moving forward.
Walker Moore is the lead organizer for Dallas Area Interfaith, one of the groups that pushed for the childcare vote. He said faith leaders began organizing around the issue after hearing repeatedly from parents struggling to afford care, teachers earning low wages and providers having trouble staying open.
Moore said the coalition isn't giving up.
“I would say I've talked to a lot of Dallas Area Interfaith leaders over the last week, and I would say the response has been persistence,” Moore said. “They are undeterred. Like, okay, let's go find another solution.”
The coalition is also pushing back on the idea that Dallas County should have to choose between funding housing assistance and childcare.
“They are both pressing concerns for our community, and they both need to be addressed,” Moore said.
Cynthia Grady runs an early childhood program at First Presbyterian Church of Dallas. Before moving into early childhood education, she worked with families experiencing homelessness in Georgia.
Grady said that experience showed her how closely the two issues are connected.
“We found that it was a cycle,” Grady said. “Our parents couldn't work. Our parents could not go to school ... there was no possible way for us to break that cycle of homelessness because the parents couldn't go to work. We didn't have child care.”
Advocates said they are already looking for other ways to fund childcare, including at the state level by setting up meetings with state lawmakers ahead of the next legislative session.
Addressing childcare affordability will require investment from local, state and federal governments, along with businesses, nonprofits and philanthropy, said Hillary Evans, vice president of policy and advocacy at United Way of Metropolitan Dallas.
She said affordable childcare should also be viewed as a way to prevent families from falling into crisis.
“We have to look at how can we on the front end prevent this from happening,” Evans said.
Sujata Dand is KERA’s early childhood education reporter. Got a tip? Email her at sdand@kera.org.
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