Clear Lake United Methodist Church Preschool to close July 31, affecting families and staff

Nearly 100 Clear Lake children will need new weekday care by July 31, when Clear Lake United Methodist Church Preschool shuts down and leaves families scrambling for another slot in an already tight southeast Harris County child care market.

The closure affects nearly 100 students and dozens of staff members at the preschool, which is at 16335 El Camino Real in Houston and has long been a familiar option for working parents in the Clear Lake area. The program says it serves infants through pre-kindergarten, offers full-day care from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and operates on the Clear Creek ISD calendar. Its listed capacity is 176 children.

Senior Pastor Brad Morgan said the church could not identify a sustainable path forward for the program. The church said the decision was driven by financial sustainability concerns after the preschool required more than $500,000 in subsidy from the church operating budget over the past three years, along with additional losses from reserves.

For families, the timing is what makes the shutdown especially disruptive. The preschool was still enrolling for summer 2026 enrichment and the 2026-27 academic year when the closure was announced, which means some parents who expected to lock in care for the fall now have only a few months to find another place. In a community where many parents balance commutes, shift work and school calendars, losing a church-based preschool can force immediate changes to work schedules, drop-off plans and household budgets.

The pressure also extends to staff. FOX 26 reported that some church employees are not eligible for unemployment benefits because they work for a church, adding to uncertainty for workers who are now looking for new jobs while caring for children of their own. One employee described the atmosphere as one of “fear and uncertainty,” especially because many teachers also have their own children enrolled in the program and rely on tuition discounts.

The closure lands in a region where child care remains scarce. Children at Risk’s 2026 analysis found 44 ZIP codes in Greater Houston qualify as child care deserts, including 28 chronic child care deserts. The group said 76.0% of low-income children under age 6 with working parents in Texas live in a subsidized child care desert. Community Impact also reported that Harris County includes ZIP codes with only zero to five child care seats per 100 children of working parents.

That means Clear Lake families are not just losing a preschool, they are losing one more licensed seat in a market where dependable child care is already hard to find. The shutdown strips away an established option that had served the community for 30 years and now forces parents and employees alike into a more competitive search for their next step.