Texas hoped $100 million would help more families pay for child care. Here’s why it didn’t

LUFKIN, Texas (Texas Tribune) — Earlier this year, Texas made a major investment in its child care scholarship fund — $100 million , to be exact.

That money, state lawmakers hoped, would provide an additional 10,000 scholarships to needy families and cut down the number of children waiting for assistance.

That didn’t happen.

In fact, as the year draws to a close, the number of Texas families seeking assistance from the state to cover child care is on the rise. And the money meant to provide more scholarships is covering higher tuition costs, according to an analysis of a Texas Workforce Commission report by Texans Care for Children, a child care advocacy organization.

The scholarship fund provides tuition assistance to families across the state. About 150,000 families received