Staffing requirements

1. The number of staff members and their responsibilities must reflect program requirements, individual differences in the needs of the children enrolled, and may permit flexible groupings, if necessary. 2. a. A provider may provide early childhood services for no more than seven children at any one time, which includes no more than three children under twenty-four months of age. A provider may also provide early childhood services to two additional school-age children; or b. A provider may elect to staff according to the following minimum ratio of staff members responsible for caring for or teaching children to children in group child care: (1) For children younger than eighteen months of age, a ratio of .25 in decimal form is assigned; (2) For children eighteen months of age to thirty-six months of age, a ratio of .20 in decimal form is assigned; (3) For children thirty-six months of age to four years of age, a ratio of .14 in decimal form is assigned; (4) For children four years of age to five years of age, a ratio of .10 in decimal form is assigned; (5) For children five years of age to six years of age, a ratio of .08 in decimal form is assigned; (6) For children six years to twelve years of age, a ratio of .05 in decimal form is assigned; and (7) When there is a mixed-aged group, the number of children in each age category is multiplied by the corresponding ratio number, converted to decimal form, and carried to the nearest hundredth. To determine the number of staff members responsible for caring for or teaching children necessary at any given time, numbers of staff members for all age categories are added, and any fractional staff member count is then rounded to the next highest whole number whenever the fractional staff member count amounts to thirty-five hundredths or more. If lower than thirty-five hundredths, the fractional amount is dropped. No more than four children under the age of eighteen months per staff member are allowed in any mixed-aged group. 3. A provider licensed for at least two years may apply for a waiver of the required ratio, not to exceed .25 decimal point. The department shall consider demonstration of need, health and safety of children, age of children, number of children, and licensing history of the provider in determining whether to approve the application for a waiver. The department may deny an application for waiver and may revoke a waiver granted under this subsection. The decision to deny or revoke a waiver is not an appealable decision. The department shall review each waiver granted under this subsection annually to determine if the circumstances which led to granting the waiver continue to exist. 4. The provider of a group child care shall ensure that the group child care is sufficiently staffed at all times to meet the child and staff ratios for children in attendance, and that no more children than the licensed capacity are served at one time. 5. If a child with special needs is admitted to the group child care, the child's developmental age level must be used in determining the number of children for which care can be provided. 6. The provider shall ensure that children with special needs requiring more than usual care and supervision have adequate care and supervision provided to them without adversely affecting care provided to the remaining children in the group child care.