How Dallas Centers Can Stay Fully Staffed Year-Round

It is 6:40am. Two teachers have called out, your ratios are about to break, and you are halfway down the sub list with nobody answering.

You did not create this problem, and you cannot fully solve it. But some of what makes those mornings harder is fixable, and it helps to know which parts.

The problem is not planning, it is depth

You already know when the flu season starts and when your teachers will be out for training. You have a sub list. The trouble is that the list is short, the people on it work at other centers too, and the weeks you need them most are the weeks everyone else needs them.

A plan that depends on four names works until three of them are already booked. That is not a planning failure. That is the size of the pool.

Texas directors are feeling it

In a survey behind the Texas Workforce Commission’s 2026 to 2028 Child Care Strategic Plan, 58% of center directors named low wages as their top hiring challenge. Fifteen percent said they were not receiving applications from qualified candidates at all. Between a quarter and a third said a lack of substitute coverage kept their teachers from getting to training.

Dallas adds its own pressure. The Dallas-Fort Worth area added more than 123,000 residents in a single year, and families are looking for care faster than new classrooms can open.

A new face does not have to be an unknown

Not every substitute will be someone your team already knows, especially early on. What you can control is that the person walking in has completed the same clearance and training as the last one, and that you know what they are qualified for before they arrive.

Over time, centers that use a substitute pool well tend to end up with a handful of substitutes they request by name. That is worth building toward.

Why staffing is the whole ballgame

Nearly everything families notice about your program traces back to whether you are staffed. Consistent faces at drop-off. Classrooms that stay open. The bandwidth to send a parent a photo instead of only bad news. A ratio you never have to worry about.

Being fully staffed is not one operational goal among several. It is the one that makes the others possible.

Where Tandem fits

We built Tandem to make the bench deeper. You set the rate and the requirements, and we match substitutes who meet them. Every Texas substitute in our pool has completed their background check, TB screening, first aid, and 10 hours of pre-service training before their first shift, and their file is ready to download when you book.

When you find a substitute your team loves, you can keep booking them. After 120 hours at your center, you can bring them onto your payroll with no placement fee.

We are building the Dallas pool now.

Get started

Centers in Dallas: Create a free profile at join-tandem.com. No commitment, no upfront cost, and no reason not to be set up before the morning you need it.

Teachers in Dallas: Download the Tandem app to begin your onboarding and start picking up shifts on your own schedule.

🧸 Crib Notes

• The problem usually is not planning, it is depth. A sub list of four names fails when three are booked elsewhere.
• Texas directors name low wages as their top hiring barrier, and many say a lack of substitute coverage keeps their teachers out of training.
• Every Tandem substitute arrives with the same clearance and training, and you can request favorites by name.
• After 120 hours, you can hire a Tandem substitute onto your payroll with no placement fee.