Hightop Academy is a private school offering childcare in Porter. The area was considered a childcare desert in 2025 by the Texas Workforce Commission, due to its low number of childcare seats. (Jamaal Ellis/Community Impact)
Parents in the New Caney and Porter areas are facing challenges finding local childcare—particularly options that are affordable or highly rated, data shows.
The overview
Some local parents said that, while looking for childcare, they ran into waitlists, high prices or a lack of options, forcing them to seek care outside New Caney and Porter. Victoria Pratt, a working mom who lives in New Caney and has three kids ages 8 and younger, said when she was pregnant with her second child, she knew she had to start her daycare search early.
“Before I even knew the gender, I went to daycares, because I knew how hard it was to get in,” Pratt said.
Nonprofit advocacy organization Children at Risk considers ZIP code 77365, which covers the Porter area, a "childcare desert" since it has fewer than 35 childcare seats per 100 working parents. Outside of 2023, Porter has been classified as a childcare desert every year since 2021, according to CAR data.
ZIP code 77357, which covers New Caney, was not considered a childcare desert from 2021 to 2025, according to CAR.
Children at Risk: https://childrenatrisk.org/childcaredesertmap/
However, that label looks different under the standard of the Texas Workforce Commission, which defines a childcare desert as an area with at least 300% more working parents with young kids than the capacity of licensed local facilities. In 2025, both ZIP codes were considered childcare deserts under this standard.
When looking at the accessibility of high-quality childcare and subsidized childcare, the capacity in New Caney and Porter drops further, according to CAR.
A lack of access to sufficient childcare for low-income families is typical for many regions across Texas, since federal funding often doesn’t match up with demand, said Kim Kofron, CAR’s executive director of early childhood education.
“We know that it's much harder for low-income families to find childcare than it is for overall families,” Kofron said.
Heather Davidson, who lives in New Caney but has a child in daycare in Spring, said one of the biggest childcare obstacles for parents is the cost.
“Cost of childcare is similar to rent or [a] house payment,” Davidson said. “In this economy, it hurts seeing so much money going out, but it is somewhat comforting knowing my child is somewhere safe.”
In their own words
Part of the problem of providing enough childcare for New Caney and Porter parents is that the area is still growing, said Kasey Castro, a New Caney resident with an 18-month-old child who attends daycare in Spring.
“There's so many new-build communities, so young families are just flooding the area like crazy. … The demand is larger than what's actually available,” Castro said.
Hightop Academy is a faith-centered private school in Porter that serves children in pre-K through elementary grades. The school sees demand from parents both locally and across the region, said April Hayes, the co-director and co-owner of Hightop Academy.
“It's really more of a proximity [to] where our parents work. … Most people are not going to drive 45 minutes to drop their kid off somewhere, even if you have the best program ever,” Hayes said.
Hightop Academy’s enrollment has steadily grown since the school launched four years ago, but the school does not currently have a waitlist, Hayes said. However, if enrollment increases this school year, a waitlist would be needed while the school hires additional staff, she said.
Hayes said even though her school has grown, she still prefers to keep class sizes small. She said it can be challenging to balance keeping prices affordable for parents while still providing a high-quality education for children.
“There's only a max you can charge parents. … but we also pride ourselves on being cream of the crop, and we're not going to lower our prices just to gain more children … where we are not able to service every kid the way that they need,” Hayes said.
Also of note
All 12 of New Caney ISD’s elementary schools offer pre-K for students, said Scott Powers, the district’s executive director of public relations, via email Sept. 2.
The district’s pre-K program is free and available for students who are 4 years old as of Sept. 1 of that school year, according to NCISD’s website. Students must also meet specific enrollment requirements, such as being economically disadvantaged.
Learn more
With the 90th Texas legislative session set to kick off in January, leaders at Children at Risk are preparing to once again bring their advocacy work to the Texas Capitol, Kofron said.
The 89th Legislature, which ended in June 2025, created a task force to look at early childhood governance via House Bill 117, according to the Texas Education Agency’s website. The bill mandated that a report be compiled on how to improve Texas’ early childhood education system, and that the report contain policy and budget recommendations.
The task force’s report is due in December, according to TEA. During meetings held over the summer, members looked at many state agencies that provide resources to Texas families, including the Texas Workforce Commission and the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.
