AUSTIN, TX – Writing in theBoerne Star last week, LTO Ventures President and CEO Mark Olson – a Time To Care coalition member – called on the Texas Legislature to raise wages for direct support professionals (DSPs) who serve individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) to $17.50 per hour. LTO Ventures is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that works with families and other organizations to develop living communities that support people with IDD – a task that has become increasingly challenging amid an ongoing workforce crisis.

Olson, who himself is the father of two developmentally disabled adult daughters, makes clear that the current wage rate of $10.60 per hour is wholly inadequate, especially given the stressful nature of the job, and threatens the stability of Texas’ community-based IDD care system:

“The crisis of care today is that the Texas government-set wage paid to DSPs for these critical supports is $10.60 per hour, one of the lowest wage rates in the U.S. — a dubious distinction for a state as wealthy as Texas.

“Would you work for $10.60 per hour? Would you want your son or daughter with IDD to depend on essential care and support from someone paid only $10.60 per hour?

“…the crisis is accelerating as more than 230 group homes in Texas have had to close in the last 12 months because of staffing vacancies of 34 percent and annual staff turnover approaching 100 percent.”

Olson writes that a wage increase to $17.50 for community-based DSPs would constitute a tiny fraction of the state’s current proposed budget for the next two years:

“What would the fiscal impact to the state budget be for an increase to $17.50 per hour? Only $313 million in general revenue funds for the biennium, which is less than 1/1000th of the current proposed budget of $330 billion.”

The proposed wage increase also aligns more closely with a wage rate that has already proven to reduce staff vacancy and turnover rates at state-supported living centers (SSLCs):

“For perspective, the rate paid to workers at the 13 state-supported living centers in Texas, which serve the same population except in an institutional setting, is currently $17.71 per hour and jumps to $19 per hour this year. We’re only asking for parity.”

To read the full column “Protecting our most vulnerable, and those who care for them,” in the Boerne Star, click here.

To read more about how the Texas Legislature can stem this crisis and restore stability to community IDD services in Texas, click here.

Time To Care: Save Texas Caregivers Now is a coalition dedicated to securing competitive wages for Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) who provide essential care to Texans with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD). Through collaboration and grassroots efforts, the coalition strives to enact meaningful change at both the legislative and community levels. Learn more about how to get involved at https://timetocaretx.org/