Modifications to child care to get review

Public comments, emails send proposal back to department

A proposed overhaul to the state's minimum licensing requirements for child care centers -- the first since 1969 -- will be sent back to the drawing board for final revisions after an outpouring of comments and calls for compromise were expressed at a series of public hearings throughout the state.

The hundreds of changes proposed by the state Department of Human Services' Division of Childcare and Early Childhood Education include reducing staff-to-child ratios; requiring directors to hold bachelor's degrees; and eliminating ball pits, trampolines, swimming pools and behavior charts.

The changes were prompted after the Childcare and Early Childhood Education Division teamed up two years ago with the Arkansas Early Childhood Commission to set goals for improvement in state child care.

In the 2013 Child Care Aware of America's Ranking of State Child Care Center Regulations and Oversight, Arkansas ranked No. 1 in the nation for oversight of the industry in the state. However, Arkansas ranked in the bottom 10 nationally for program requirements, which grades the minimum quality of care offered in child care settings.

Gina Gilliam, who has owned the Daycamp Learning Center in Lonoke for 23 years, told a group at a public hearing held Thursday in Little Rock that implementing just one requirement -- the hiring of more staff members to meet the new staff-to-child ratios -- would cause a minimum $24 weekly increase in rates charged to parents.

The rates at Daycamp Learning Center vary depending on the child's age. Gilliam said she charges $110 per week, or about $5,720 annually, for daily care of children 3 years old to pre-kindergarten age.

On average for a 4-year-old at a child care center, Arkansas parents paid $5,011 in 2013, according to Child Care Aware of America.

The current version of the proposal calls for the staff-to-child ratios for child care providers to be reduced from current ratios of:

• One staff member for every six children to one staff member for every five children, from birth to 18 months old;

• One staff member for every nine children to one staff member for every eight children, from 18 months to 36 months old;

• One staff member for every 20 children to one staff member for every 18 children, kindergarten age and older.

"It's a great idea, but there is no way I can hire more people and pay them what they deserve. The money is not there," Gilliam said.

David Griffin, associate director of Arkansas' Childcare and Early Childhood Education Division, said the ratios have not been updated in 45 years. Arkansas is one of 13 states in the nation that do not meet the staff-to-child ratios recommended by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Several participants -- mostly child care center owners -- expressed concern about the proposed requirement that directors have at least a bachelor's degree. Currently, a bachelor's degree is not required if the director has at least a high-school diploma or a GED certificate, along with four years of experience in a licensed child care or elementary program.

Requiring a higher education level for directors could create a shortage of qualified staff members and add extra salary expenses, participants said.

Griffin told the group Thursday that the minimum-degree requirement portion of the proposal was being revised to address those concerns -- and those expressed by legislators last week when the changes were presented to the Senate Committee on Children and Youth, and the House Committee on Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs.

One portion of the original proposal -- requiring all staff members employed by the facilities to undergo a nationwide criminal-background check from the Identification Bureau of the Arkansas State Police -- was pulled out of the revisions because it would require a change in state law to implement, Griffin told the group Thursday.

Currently, only employees who have not been a resident of the state for five preceding years are subjected to the nationwide criminal check. All staff members, however, are subject to checks against the Arkansas Child Maltreatment Central Registry and a state police criminal-records check.

Human Services Department spokesman Amy Webb said that about 350 comments -- which include statements at public hearings, written comment cards and a large number of emails -- have been received to date concerning the proposed changes.

"Many of these are in full support of the proposed changes, some offer suggested changes to some of the proposals and some are opposed to certain proposals," Webb said.

Griffin said Thursday that the comments and the suggestions will now be reviewed by the Human Services Department's team, which will then go through the proposal "item by item" before a revised draft is presented to the Arkansas Early Childhood Commission on July 15.

Once the proposal is approved by the commission, a final draft will go back to the legislative committees for review. Griffin said it would likely be several months before the changes are put into effect.

The proposal can be viewed in its entirety at hs.arkansas.gov/dccece/pages/childcarelicensing.aspx.

Metro on 06/13/2014

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