The commission must evaluate its child care program, compile and analyze parent outcome information, share findings, and report to the legislature by January 15 every odd-numbered year.
Sec. 302.0043. EVALUATION OF EFFECTIVENESS OF SUBSIDIZED CHILD CARE PROGRAM. (a) To evaluate the effectiveness of the commission's child care program in helping parents who receive subsidized child care to maintain employment, the commission shall compile, regarding each parent receiving subsidized child care from the commission's child care program, the following information regarding the wage and employment status of the parent: (1) if the parent receives both financial assistance under Chapter 31, Human Resources Code, and subsidized child care, whether the parent: (A) finds employment; and (B) maintains the parent's employment after one year; (2) if the parent receives only subsidized child care, whether the parent: (A) maintains the parent's employment; and (B) experiences a change in the parent's earnings after one year of employment; and (3) if the parent leaves the child care program: (A) the parent's reason for leaving the program; and (B) whether the parent returns to financial assistance under Chapter 31, Human Resources Code, or becomes a recipient of financial assistance under that chapter for the first time. (b) The commission may use the wage and employment records of the parents to determine the employment outcome of the parents. (c) The commission shall also measure and evaluate the effectiveness of the commission's child care program in: (1) improving the training of child care professionals; and (2) facilitating collaboration with Head Start, the Texas Education Agency, the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services, and the Health and Human Services Commission. (c-1) The commission shall measure and evaluate the progress of the commission's child care program regarding: (1) coordination by the commission with the Texas Education Agency to assign a Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) number to children younger than six years of age enrolled in the commission's child care program; (2) coordination with the Texas Education Agency, school districts, and open-enrollment charter schools on any prekindergarten quality improvement efforts; (3) efforts to increase coordination between participating providers in the commission's child care program, school districts, and open-enrollment charter schools; (4) facilitation of child care provider enrollment in the Texas Rising Star Program and progression of providers to the highest rating level in the program; and (5) development and implementation of rates and payments, as determined by local workforce development boards, to: (A) allow participating providers to provide high-quality child care; and (B) ensure that the commission meets performance measures established by the legislature for the average number of children served by the commission's child-care program per day. (d) The commission shall periodically analyze the information collected by the commission under this section and shall compile its findings regarding the effectiveness of the commission's child care program. (e) The commission shall make the information collected by the commission and the commission's findings available to local workforce development boards, school districts, open-enrollment charter schools, and the public. (f) Not later than January 15 of each odd-numbered year, the commission shall report to the legislature regarding the commission's findings regarding the effectiveness of the commission's child care program. The report must: (1) include employment outcome information, disaggregated by local workforce development area, regarding parents receiving subsidized care under the program; (2) identify multiyear trends in the information collected and analyzed by the commission under this section, including trends in the information for at least the five state fiscal years preceding the date of the report; (3) include information described by Sections 302.0042(b)(9)-(13); (4) include a summary of the input obtained under Section 302.00435; and (5) include any recommendations for legislation or regulation, including regulatory recommendations for governmental bodies other than the commission, regarding the input obtained under Section 302.00435. Added by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 817, Sec. 4.06, eff. Sept. 1, 2003. Amended by: Acts 2015, 84th Leg., R.S., Ch. 1138 (S.B. 208), Sec. 23, eff. September 1, 2015. Acts 2019, 86th Leg., R.S., Ch. 1038 (H.B. 680), Sec. 3, eff. September 1, 2019.