Texas Workforce Commission approves $3 million for Texas Rising Star assessor roster

The Texas Workforce Commission on March 1 approved an additional $3 million in fiscal year 2026 to support centralized assessment services for Texas Rising Star, the state's quality-rating and improvement system for child-care providers that accept subsidy.

Allison Wilson of TWC’s Childcare and Early Learning Division told commissioners the commission had previously approved $56,400,000 across fiscal years 2023–2026 for the statewide initiative and that staff recommends a $3,000,000 addition in FY26 so the contracted assessor entity (CAE) can hire more assessors and meet statutory assessment requirements enacted in 2021. Wilson said the additional funds would support a CAE roster of roughly 130 assessors, which she said would put assessors at about 60–65 programs per assessor compared with about 36 programs per assessor under the prior board structure.

"Staff recommends that the commission approve an additional $3,000,000 in fiscal year 26 to support the required Texas Rising Star assessment services from the CAE," Wilson said during the presentation. Commissioners asked whether the additional funds would complete backlog assessments and whether there is a deadline; Wilson said CAE is catching up on a backlog and that the funding reflects an ongoing staffing need to meet statutory requirements.

Commissioner Trevino moved to approve the additional $3 million; the motion was seconded and commissioners voted to approve the funding. The motion passed on the record, and staff will work to deploy the funds to support assessment staffing for Texas Rising Star.

The motion did not include programmatic changes beyond the staffing and assessment capacity described in the discussion paper, and the commission did not specify contract details during the public meeting.