Today those efforts, and the allure of our great city, have been so successful that we face a different challenge: our region has a 2.9% unemployment rate (one of the lowest in the country) and nearly 40,000 unfilled jobs. Our goal would be to bring sector leaders together with other experts and parents to rethink how we fund and deliver childcare in our community, and to fully explore options – potentially including a dedicated tax rate election – to remake Austin into the best place in America to raise kids.įor many years, Austin’s economic development efforts have focused almost entirely on creating and bringing new jobs here. To that end, I propose to launch the Mayor’s Task Force on Childcare.
The City can make a big difference for family budgets, our workforce, our children, and Austin’s economic future by expanding affordable, high-quality childcare and pre-kindergarten options in every part of the city. Research also clearly shows that strong pre-kindergarten programs demonstrably improve students’ success in school and later in life. When parents can’t find affordable, acceptable childcare, it impedes their career growth and slows Austin’s economic recovery. Unfortunately, like so many other sectors in the wake of the pandemic, childcare providers continue to experience serious staffing shortages, which reduces available options (Texas lost more than 20% of childcare providers over a recent 18-month period) and drives up costs. If elected mayor, I will work to:įor many Austin families, childcare is the second-biggest monthly expense, behind only housing. But there are other ways that City Hall, other local governments, and community leaders could and should work together to help more people live and thrive in our city. We all know that Austin’s housing costs – the most significant monthly expense for almost everyone in our community – have spiraled out of control, and I’ve proposed a number of new ideas that I believe can help. And right now, nothing matters more to Austinites than affordability.
To ensure that they are, we should focus on pragmatic ways to improve the quality of our daily life and solve local problems that matter to local people. I deeply believe that Austin’s best days are ahead.
That’s why I believe it’s more important than ever for local leaders to step up and tackle, head on, the challenges that we can control. Facing everything from inflation and higher gas prices to the effects of war, Austinites, like everyone else, are struggling. Let’s be honest: much of Austin’s high cost of living is the result of forces we simply can’t control.
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