Create a Scenario

If any required fields are incomplete, you will be prompted by a red box to enter a value before proceeding.

NOTE: Clicking your browser's back button will take you back to the welcome page and all data will be lost.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • Basic Info
  • Personnel
  • Non-personnel
  • Revenue
Teachers and children playing with toys

Step 1: Basic Information

Please complete the fields below with information specific to your child care centers' physical location, daily hours of operation and Texas Rising Star participation. All fields must be completed to advance to the next page.

Daily Hours of Operation

Standard hours

indicate daily hours for children who are 5 years old and younger. School age children are students that are 6 years and older. The

school year

refers to the months August through May. The

summer

months refer to months June through July.

Texas Rising Star Level

More Info




Classroom Groupings

NOTE: Each Classroom Grouping can include children from multiple age groups. However, for calculation purposes, classrooms with school age children (6 years and older) cannot be mixed with children 5 years and younger. For example, a classroom cannot have four (4) 0-11 month old children and three (3) 6+ year old children. Given the different hours of operation for school age programs, separating classrooms ensures the most accurate calculation. For requirements related to mixed-age groups, please see the Minimum Standards for Childcare Centers from Texas Health and Human Services Commission's Child Care Regulation.

Classroom Grouping Name 0-11mo 12-17mo 18-23mo 2yr 3yr 4yr 5yr 6yr+

Classroom Information

For each classroom grouping that you created above, enter the desired number of classrooms you would like to have with the same student age mix, your desired student-teacher ratio and your desired maximum classroom group size. These inputs will automatically add the number of staff you need.

  • # of Classes - indicates how many classrooms you want to include for each Classroom Grouping -

    this will duplicate the number of children entered above

  • Students-to-Teacher - The ratio of students to teachers in each classroom group
  • Desired Max Group Size - The maximum number of children allowed per classroom

For example, if you created Classroom Tiny Tots with “8” children and entered “2” for # of classes; “4” for the student-to-teacher ratio, “10” for the desired max group size, the Texas PCQC will calculate two (2) lead teachers and (2) assistant teachers to your scenario (one lead teacher and one assistant teacher for each classroom).

For more information on Texas regulations regarding student-to-teacher ratios and max group sizes, read the Minimum Standards for Childcare Centers.

Classroom Grouping Name # of Classes Students-to-Teacher Desired Max Group Size

Teachers and children playing with wooden blocks

Step 2: Personnel Costs

The Texas PCQC personnel costs cover the most common forms of staff compensation (e.g. salaries, hourly wages, and benefits). Salaries and hourly wages are based on the Texas Labor Market Information Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics website (OEWS) for the county you selected. You can find the OEWS occupation titles in the Texas PCQC User Guide.

Depending on the center's standard daily hours of operation, more staff may be needed to cover the responsibilities associated with opening and closing of centers that operate beyond the “standard” 8-hour workday. The Texas PCQC automatically accounts for this time by calculating the hourly wages for Part-Time Assistant Teachers needed to cover excess hours based on the standard daily hours of operation you input and the amount of classrooms groupings you created on the previous page.

Optional Personnel

You have the option to increase the administrative staff at your center by completing the fields below. The Texas PCQC also allows you to enter customized administrative full-time positions. You may enter the number of positions, the title of each position, and the hourly wage for the position.

Note that the default wages for Assistant Director, Administrative Assistant, and Cook will be displayed under the "Compensation" section below if selected.

Title Quantity Hourly Wage (if applicable)
Assistant Director
Administrative Assistant
Cook
$
$
$

Compensation

The Center/Program Director is the only position that has compensation listed as salary and is automatically included in the calculation of your child care centers' personnel expenses based on the county you selected. All other roles are based on an hourly wage. The table below will display the salaries and hourly wages based on county selection. If you chose to increase the staff compensation, the new total amount will be displayed, as well as the amount the pay was increased.

NOTE: Compensation can only be changed by EITHER increasing the percentage (%) using the sliding bar below OR by entering the total annual dollar value increase (e.g., $5,000) in the blank box below. You CANNOT increase staff compensation by both methods. The increase in compensation will impact ALL STAFF salaries and hourly wages.

0%
$
TitleSalary/Hourly Wage
Center/Program Director (Salary)
Assistant Director N/A
Administrative Assistant N/A
Cook N/A
Lead Teacher
Assistant Teacher
Other Personnel 1 N/A
Other Personnel 2 N/A
Other Personnel 3 N/A

Voluntary Benefits

Click the button next to the optional benefits that you would like to offer your staff. If an optional benefit is selected, the default amount for that benefit will automatically populate. This data can be changed if desired.
$
%
%
Days

Employee Child Care Benefits

The Texas PCQC allows you the option to offer reduced child care tuition for your staff. If you choose to offer this benefit, enter the percentage of the discount in the box below. Next, enter the number of children per classroom group that will be receiving the reduced tuition benefit.

For example, two employees are receiving the reduced tuition for their children. One child is in Tiny Tots classroom and the other child is the School Age classroom. Enter “1” next to Tiny Tots and “1” next to School Age.

%
Class # of Children
Teachers and children playing with plants

Step 3: Non-Personnel Costs

Non-personnel costs cover the most common Occupancy, Operational and Administrative costs necessary to run a child care center. The Operational and Administrative fields have default values based on state averages. You can use the default values that are prepopulated, or you can change the amounts to match the expected expenses at your center. The Occupancy costs were intentionally left blank for you to fill out due to the wide variation of these costs among child care centers and providers' personal situations.

All required fields either have prepopulated data or state “Required” within the data field. If an expense for a required field is not applicable to your center, input “$0”.

NOTE: The costs in the chart below are

monthly

costs. If your records are annual, divide each annual cost by 12 to get the monthly cost.
Expense Monthly Cost
Occupancy Costs (per site)
Rent, Lease, or Mortgage
$
Property Tax
$
Utilities
$
Building Insurance
$
Maintenance, Repair, and Cleaning
$
Other Occupancy Expenses
$
Operational Costs (per child unless otherwise noted)
Food and Food Preparation
$
Kitchen Supplies
$
Classroom Supplies
$
Education Supplies
$
Office Supplies and Equipment
$
Medical Supplies
$
Insurance
$
Child Assessment Tool
$
Developmental Screening Tool
$
Curriculum
$
Transportation (per site)
$
Other Operational Expenses (per site)
$
Administrative Costs (per site)
Telephone and Internet
$
Audits and Legal Fees
$
Licensing Fees and Permits
$
Professional Services and Fees
$
Accreditation Fees
$
Advertising
$
Professional Membership and Subscriptions
$
Other Administrative Expenses
$
Teacher with kids in classroom

Step 4: Revenue

Enter monthly tuition rates, subsidy information, and other revenue sources that would be used to compensate your center for the cost of child care for each classroom age group.

Tuition

- Below is the calculated breakeven monthly tuition amount per child for each classroom grouping created. The monthly breakeven amounts are based on cost information you have entered thus far and do not include any other sources of revenue. You should adjust monthly tuition rates by classroom based on your center's needs and preferences.

% Receiving Subsidies

- Enter the percentage of children in your center who are receiving subsidized tuition from Texas's Child Care Services program. This amount is used to calculate your revenue received from subsidy payments. If your program charges parents (or legal guardians) the difference between the subsidized rate and tuition select “YES” in the appropriate field.

CACFP

- This is a federal program that provides reimbursements to child care providers who offer meals and snacks to children as a part of their child care services. If your child care center participates in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), select “YES”.

Other Annual Revenue

- Use this revenue field to capture any additional revenue sources you may receive beyond tuition, child care subsidies and CACFP.

Allowance for Uncollected Revenue

- This amount is an estimated percentage of unpaid tuition owed to your child care center. The industry standard is to keep uncollected revenue less than 3% of annual revenue.

Revenue Information

Percent of Children Receiving Subsidies

More Info
%
Does this Program Charge the Difference Between Subsidy and Tuition?

Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) Subsidies

More Info
Other

Annual

Revenue (e.g., bonuses and grants)
$
Allowance for Uncollected Revenue (as % of Revenue)
%

Use the orange "Previous Page" button at the top of the form and the "Next Page" button at the bottom to navigate. Alternatively, you can click on a circle in the progress bar to skip backward to that step. Note: You cannot skip forward.

Children six and older are often enrolled in after school programs with different hours of operation and staffing arrangements. Separate classrooms for school age children ensures that the calculator yields the most accurate results.

The “Desired Max Group Size” must be greater than or equal to the number of children you entered for that classroom grouping. Please see the Minimum Standards for Childcare Centers for Texas regulations regarding max group sizes.

Default salary data was primarily collected from the Texas Labor Market Information website under Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. Default data for non-personnel expenses were collected from the Administration on Children and Families Provider Cost of Quality Calculator. Other benefits data comes from the Texas Workforce Commission website and the Texas Health and Human Services website. Default staff salary data is adjusted by the location of the child care center and participation in the Texas Rising Star program (entered in the basic information step).

The model applies voluntary benefit costs for all staff members excluding substitute teachers for PTO.

Adding annual paid time off to your scenario will include the cost of a substitute teacher for each day.

The Texas PCQC automatically calculates state and federal mandatory benefits (State Unemployment Tax at 2.7%, Social Security and Medicare at 7.65%, and Federal Unemployment Tax 6%) based on the number of personnel and staff you have.

Some child care centers offer free or reduced child care tuition for the children of their staff members. If this benefit is being offered, enter the discount percentage for children of staff and the number of children receiving benefits.

Some child care centers may transport students from home to school, or, for school-age students, from school to their after-school program. Enter the monthly costs of transportation in the in the transportation field. If this does not apply to your center, enter zero (0).

This number is automatically populated in each "tuition" field to help you understand the tuition you would need to charge per child to cover all of your costs without any profit. Breakeven tuition does not account for other forms of revenue like subsidized tuition, food reimbursements and other revenue fields.

No. The Texas PCQC revenue summary will automatically adjust the amount of tuition revenue by the amount of CACFP subsides received.