When the Texas Restaurant Association started talking about childcare and early learning, we got more than a few confused looks. The Texas Restaurant Association is known for advocating for businesses — mostly small businesses — that feed our communities. Texans know restaurants have been hit and are still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. What they may not realize is that our recovery, and indeed the entire Texas economy, is threatened by families’ inability to find and afford quality child care. So, in this session, we are championing child care at the Texas Capitol.
Food service businesses, such as restaurants, are the second largest private employer in the state, employing more than 1.3 million people. And like many industries, we are struggling to attract and retain talent as we recover from the pandemic and try to meet the needs of a state that has about 1,000 new mouths to feed every day. According to our latest survey, two-thirds of Texas restaurant operators don’t have enough staff to keep up with demand. This data, combined with the fact that most of our employees are unable to work from home and require childcare beyond the traditional 9-to-5 window, puts us squarely in the eye of the storm when it comes to the Texas childcare crisis goes.
Sometimes child care is dismissed as a women’s issue or a social problem. As a working mother of twins, I know the impact that childcare and early learning have on families. That’s reason enough to prioritize the issue, but for those who aren’t convinced, I would suggest looking at the numbers to estimate the cost that inadequate childcare is causing to all of us.
The Texas economy loses more than $9 billion each year due to inadequate childcare. The COVID-19 pandemic made a bad situation worse when 21% of our state’s childcare programs were closed, leaving nearly a third of our zip codes in a childcare desert. Remaining providers will soon face a fiscal cliff as nearly $6 billion in federal pandemic aid expires in 2024. Those providers are already struggling to operate at full capacity due to labor shortages, with the average wage for preschool teachers being $12 an hour, according to a Vanderbilt University study released last month.
The crisis becomes more and more expensive over time. In Texas, according to statistics from the Texas Education Agency, only half of our students enter kindergarten ready for the academic challenges ahead. According to a study by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, students who can’t read through third grade are four times less likely to complete high school, leading to worsening labor shortages and greater demand for social services.
If there is a silver lining to this story, it is that we are not powerless to intervene. The Texas Legislature meets by the end of May, and its top priority is grappling with the state’s $32.7 billion in additional revenue. This budget surplus is a result of the Texas economy and the fact that inflation has increased the taxes we all pay on everyday items. What better way to reinvest this revenue back into our economy, supporting an industry on which many other industries depend?
The Texas Restaurant Association is not an expert on childcare or early childhood education, but we know firsthand that the lack of affordable, quality childcare is hurting our workforce and our overall economy. We will continue to champion childcare as an economic imperative and look forward to working with advocates and legislators from both parties in this session to invest in childcare, support childcare workers and update regulations to support that investment maximize .
The Texas economy has outperformed many others during the COVID-19 pandemic and recovery, but how well we approach childcare may very well determine whether we maintain our competitive advantage.
Emily Williams Knight is President and CEO of the Texas Restaurant Association and the Texas Restaurant Foundation. She wrote this for the Dallas Morning News.
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