Text of section effective on April 01, 2025
Sec. 526.0006.  INTERNET WEBSITE FOR CHILD-CARE AND EDUCATION SERVICES REFERRAL INFORMATION.  (a)  In this section, "child-care and education services" means:
(1)  subsidized child-care services administered by the Texas Workforce Commission and local workforce development boards and funded wholly or partly by federal child-care development funds;
(2)  child-care and education services provided by a Head Start or Early Head Start program provider;
(3)  child-care and education services provided by a school district through a prekindergarten or after-school program; and
(4)  any other government-funded child-care and education services, other than education and services a school district provides as part of the general program of public education, designed to educate or provide care for children younger than 13 years of age in middle-income or low-income families.
(b)  In addition to providing health and human services information, the network Internet website established under Section 526.0005 must provide information to the public regarding child-care and education services public or private entities provide throughout this state.  The Internet website will serve as a single point of access through which an individual may be directed toward information regarding the manner of or location for applying for all child-care and education services available in the individual's community.
(c)  To the extent resources are available, the Internet website must:
(1)  be geographically indexed and designed to inform an individual about the child-care and education services provided in the area in which the individual lives;
(2)  contain prescreening questions to determine an individual's or family's probable eligibility for child-care and education services; and
(3)  be designed in a manner that allows network staff to:
(A)  provide an applicant with the telephone number, physical address, and e-mail address of the:
(i)  nearest Head Start or Early Head Start office or center and local workforce development center; and
(ii)  appropriate school district; and
(B)  send an e-mail message to each appropriate entity described by Paragraph (A) containing each applicant's name and contact information and a description of the services for which the applicant is applying.
(d)  On receipt of an e-mail message from the network under Subsection (c)(3)(B), each applicable entity shall:
(1)  contact the applicant to verify information regarding the applicant's eligibility for available child-care and education services; and
(2)  on certifying the applicant's eligibility, match the applicant with entities providing those services in the applicant's community, including local workforce development boards, local child-care providers, or a Head Start or Early Head Start program provider.
(e)  The child-care resource and referral network described by Chapter 310, Labor Code, and each entity providing child-care and education services in this state, including local workforce development boards, the Texas Education Agency, school districts, Head Start and Early Head Start program providers, municipalities, counties, and other political subdivisions of this state, shall cooperate with the network as necessary to administer this section.
Added by Acts 2023, 88th Leg., R.S., Ch. 769 (H.B. 4611), Sec. 1.01, eff. April 1, 2025.