TWC approves deferral of BCY‑25 childcare allocations for five workforce boards

The Texas Workforce Commission on an approved motion agreed to allow five local workforce boards to defer portions of their board contract year (BCY) 2025 childcare allocations into BCY 2026 and to adjust performance targets tied to average children served per day.

Lisonbee Wilson, with the Childcare and Early Learning Division, told commissioners that the deferrals respond to post‑launch implementation issues with a new childcare case management system that slowed enrollments. "Boards with available balances would like to retain these funds to ensure they are expended within their workforce areas," Wilson said.

Under the staff recommendation, the five boards will retain the following BCY 2025 balances for deferral: Borderplex, $3,500,000; Central Texas, $1,750,000; Heart of Texas, $1,750,000; Panhandle, $2,300,000; and West Central, $800,000. Staff recommended reducing the boards' BCY 2025 performance targets for average number of children served per day and increasing their BCY 2026 targets; staff also recommended that 100% of each deferral be used to calculate the new BCY 2026 targets with no set‑aside for administration or operations. Wilson said staff detailed these recommendations in a discussion paper provided to commissioners.

Commissioner Spadaisai asked whether such deferrals were routine; Wilson replied the requests were "unusual" and tied to the new system's implementation slowdowns. Following staff remarks, a commissioner moved to approve the deferrals and associated performance‑target adjustments; the motion was seconded and the chair stated the motion carried.

The action is recorded as an approval of voluntary deobligation and reallocation under Commission rules cited by staff (Commission rules 800.76 and 800.77). The commission did not provide a roll‑call vote or vote tally in the public remarks recorded in the transcript.

The deferral preserves funds that otherwise might be deobligated for reallocation and shifts the timing of when those dollars are expected to be used to support child care services within the affected workforce areas. Staff explicitly tied the deferral requests to slower than expected enrollments after implementing the new TWC childcare case management system.

Questions about how the adjusted performance targets will affect service delivery or administration were limited to the exchange between Wilson and Commissioner Spadaisai; no additional conditions or amendments were recorded in the meeting transcript.

The commission's action moves the listed amounts into BCY 2026 planning and updates the performance metrics used to measure average children served per day in the affected workforce areas.