Court approves community advisory council plan and moves forward short‑term steps for voter‑approved childcare fund

Travis County Commissioners on June 10 approved staff recommendations to form a 20‑member Community Advisory Council to oversee community engagement and advise implementation of the voter‑approved childcare and out‑of‑school‑time (OST) fund, and directed staff to proceed with short‑term investments to deliver immediate services.

The court vote followed a staff presentation by Health and Human Services County Executive Pilar Sanchez and Research & Planning Director Corey Darling, public comments from community groups and childcare advocates, and an executive‑session discussion. Commissioner Trevillian moved the final action item; the motion was seconded by Commissioner Shea and approved unanimously after the court returned from executive session.

Staff recommended a 20‑member advisory council composed of parents with lived experience, youth with OST experience, four provider representatives (center‑based, family/home‑based, and OST), nine key stakeholder representatives (including Workforce Solutions and Head Start contractor representation), and at‑large members with childcare expertise. The court packet and staff briefing emphasized inclusion goals — geographic diversity, representation of families with children with disabilities, language access and stipends for participation — and proposed a selection process that mixes open applications and stakeholder nominations.

Corey Darling described a fast timeline: the goal was to make the call for community applications live by the end of the month, accept nominations from stakeholder organizations in July, have a selection committee review applications in August, and convene the council’s first meeting in September. Darling told the court the advisory body would be advisory only (no direct contracting authority) and staff would return with bylaws and charters.

On short‑term investments, staff said the county will prioritize expanding scholarships through Workforce Solutions to get children into care quickly, pursue contract modifications to expand existing county contracts that meet the ballot criteria, negotiate interlocal agreements with independent school districts for OST services (Austin ISD, Manor ISD, Del Valle and Pflugerville were named), and explore city interlocal agreements and gap funding to pay providers the “true cost of care.” Staff said they plan a fuller short‑term investment report on July 15.

Community speakers — including Monica Guzman of Go Austin Vamos Austin, Laura Olsen (GAVA), Allison Alter (Affordable Child Care Now steering committee) and others — urged clarity, transparency, language access, stipends for advisory members, immediate support for family‑based providers, and at least $500,000 in capacity funding routed to Austin Public Health for the family‑based network.

Staff said they had worked through contracting and reimbursement problems with Workforce Solutions and presented a draft mechanism to create an escrow account to ensure on‑time payments; staff said that approach could avert immediate terminations for about 115 families who had received 30‑day notices from a existing scholarship program. The court asked staff to return with contract modification language; staff said modifications were being prepared for potential June 17 or June 24 approvals.

The court’s final action approved the advisory council plan, supported short‑term steps described by staff and directed staff to proceed with negotiations and return with the July 15 report on short‑term investments.