CAMERON, Texas — Margory Ortiz takes her daughter to work every day.
She's a second grade teacher at Ben Milam Elementary School.
But before she heads to her classroom, she takes her daughter down the hall to daycare for free.
"It's a huge relief of stress, being in a small town and not really having daycares available," Ortiz said.
Her daughter is enrolled in Cameron ISD's employee childcare program. It's been operating for since 2022.
Workforce Solutions of Central Texas suggested adding the program as an incentive to retain employees.
"It helps out the employees because they receive free childcare, and they're saving every month or every year," Program Director Martina Glaser said.
But before the program, Ortiz had trouble figuring out where to find care.
"I was expecting last year when I was starting as a first-year teacher and my daughter was due in September," she said. "It was 'Who's gonna watch the baby? Is it gonna be mom, you know?'"
It's the same trouble other parents face.
In 2022, about 365,000 adults lost their jobs because of time away taking care of children, and 1.3 million adults left a job to care for children, according to a U.S. Census survey.
But rising costs of childcare and limited spots don't help either. Childcare costs about $9,000 a year in Texas.
According to federal law, child cares centers must maintain a ratio of one supervisor per a specified number of children based on age, so spots are limited due to staffing shortages.
But now, more employees are saving money with the district's program.
There are currently 50 children in the program, which expanded to offer Pre-K services for qualifying 3-year-olds.
The district even received the Workforce Education Impact Award at the 2023 Torch Awards and a Texas Rising Star 4-star certification.
"That means it's a higher quality childcare that we do have the curriculum," Glaser said. "It's not for me. It's really for my employees because they do the work."
But Glaser said they're focused on the children.
Ortiz's daughter gets breakfast and lunch, playtime, nap time and an early education.
Ortiz plans to keep her daughter in the program as long as she can.
"You can really tell the care they have for all of them," she said.