How to read a Texas daycare inspection report
Texas licenses and inspects every daycare center and child-care home. The records are public, but the state's own pages are hard to read. Here is what each part means, and how to look up any daycare in Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio or Austin.
Look up a daycare
Covers 7,634 licensed centers and child-care homes in the Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio and Austin areas (Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties; Dallas, Tarrant, Collin and Denton counties; Bexar County; Travis and Williamson counties). For other counties, use the state's Search Texas Child Care.
1. The kinds of visit
- Inspection
- A licensing inspector checks the daycare against the state's minimum standards. Most are unannounced. In these counties there were 33,989 in the last 24 months.
- Investigation of a report
- The state looked into a specific report or complaint, for example from a parent, or an incident the daycare reported itself (a "self-report"). Investigations can end with no citation. 8,273 in the last 24 months.
- Assessment
- A review the state records separately from routine inspections and investigations. 1,261 in the last 24 months.
2. Citations (also called deficiencies or violations)
A citation means the inspector found one rule ("minimum standard") not met at that visit. Each citation names the rule, for example 746.1205 Supervision: 746 is the chapter for child-care centers, 747 for child-care homes, 744 for school-age programs and 745 for rules that apply to every operation (such as background checks). One visit can produce several citations, and a single problem can be cited under more than one rule.
3. Risk levels, High to Low
Texas weights every rule by how much risk to children it carries when broken. The weight belongs to the rule, not to what happened, so a missing form and a serious lapse can both be "medium-high" if the rules are weighted that way. Read the inspector's note to see what actually happened.
- High risk 7,792 citations in 24 months
- The state weights this rule as high risk: breaking it can put a child in immediate danger (for example supervision, ratios, safe sleep, background checks, prohibited punishment).
- Medium-high risk 12,916 citations in 24 months
- The state weights this rule as medium-high risk: a real safety or health concern, but usually less immediate (for example hazards in a room, missing medical or allergy information, required training).
- Medium risk 9,110 citations in 24 months
- The state weights this rule as medium risk: important for health and safety over time (for example records, drills, equipment upkeep).
- Medium-low risk 1,173 citations in 24 months
- The state weights this rule as medium-low risk: mostly paperwork or reporting that supports safety.
- Low risk 552 citations in 24 months
- The state weights this rule as low risk: administrative requirements with little direct risk to children.
4. "Corrected at inspection", correction date and "verified"
Corrected at inspection means the daycare fixed the problem while the inspector was still there (for example, moving a cleaning product out of reach). Otherwise the record shows the date the daycare said it was corrected and, later, the date the state verified it. Across these counties, 3,140 of 31,543 citations in the last 24 months were corrected at the inspection.
Technical assistance means the inspector also gave advice on how to meet the rule. It is not a penalty.
5. The inspector's note
Each citation carries the inspector's own short description of what was found. This is the most useful part: it tells you whether a "supervision" citation was a child briefly out of view or something more serious. We show these notes word for word.
6. The most common citations across these counties
Citations from Nov 12, 2024 to Nov 12, 2026, grouped by rule.
| Rule | What it requires | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 746.1205 High risk | Supervision ensures each child's safety, well-being, including physical proximity and auditory or visual awareness of each child's on going activity | 1,468 |
| 746.3407 Medium-high risk | The building, grounds and equipment must be kept in good repair and clean. | 958 |
| 746.2805 High risk | The state prohibits certain punishments of children, such as hitting, grabbing, shaming, withholding food or rest, or locking a child in a room. | 773 |
| 746.901 Medium-low risk | Each employee's file must hold the personnel records the state requires (such as signed affidavits, dates of employment and proof of qualifications). | 757 |
| 746.603 Medium risk | The operation must keep the children's records the state requires in each child's file. | 755 |
| 746.5101 High risk | The center must have a fire inspection by the local fire marshal before opening and every 12 months after. | 698 |
| 746.1201 High risk | Responsibilities of Employees and Caregivers -Demonstrate Competency, Good Judgment, Self-control | 644 |
| 746.605 Medium-high risk | Each child's file must hold all the admission information the state requires (such as contacts, medical authorization and permissions). | 632 |
| 746.1309 Medium risk | Caregivers must complete the annual training hours and topics the state requires, and it must be documented. | 606 |
| 746.1315 Medium-high risk | The director and each caregiver must have current pediatric first aid and pediatric CPR training that meets the state's guidelines. | 566 |
| 746.501 Medium risk | The operation must have the written operational policies the state requires, and share them with parents. | 540 |
| 747.603 Medium risk | The operation must keep the children's records the state requires in each child's file. | 514 |
| 746.3701 Medium-high risk | Areas children use must be kept free of safety hazards, such as uncovered electrical outlets, unprotected heaters or fans, or reachable water. | 498 |
| 745.641 High risk | A person may not be at the operation until their background check result has come back and allows it. | 491 |
| 746.1301 Medium-high risk | Training Requirements for Employees, Caregivers, and Directors - 24 Annual training | 471 |
Risk level shown is the one most often given for citations under that rule; parts of a rule can carry different weights.
7. How this site summarizes a record
The state's lifetime "deficiency" counts include citations from many years ago, so most centers look alike on them. We count only the last 24 months, from the state's own visit and citation records, and say it in one sentence, for example: "2 high-risk citations in the last 24 months (7 citations in all, from 3 inspections and 1 investigation); last inspection Sep 12, 2026." The coloured label follows fixed rules:
- No citations in 24 months at least one visit in 24 months and no citations.
- Citations, none high-risk one or more citations, none weighted high.
- High-risk at least one citation the state weights as high risk.
- No recent inspection no visit in 24 months, so nothing recent to go on.
This is not a grade. Larger centers get more visits and so more chances to be cited; a single high-risk citation that was corrected on the spot is different from repeated ones. Open the daycare's page and read the notes.
8. Questions to ask a daycare about its record
- What happened with this citation, and what did you change afterwards?
- Has the same rule been cited more than once? (Look for repeats on the daycare's page.)
- For infants: how do you handle safe sleep, feeding and supervision?
- What are your caregiver-to-child ratios in my child's age group?