50-11.1-03. Operation of early childhood services program - License required - Fees

50-11.1-03. Operation of early childhood services program - License required - Fees 1. A license for family child care is required if early childhood services are provided for four or more children ages twenty-four months and under, or six or seven children through age eleven at any one time which includes no more than three children under twenty-four months of age. 2. A license for group child care is required if early childhood services are provided for at least eight and no more than thirty children at any one time. 3. A license for a child care center is required if early childhood services are provided for more than thirty children at any one time. 4. Except as provided under subsection 5, a person may not establish or operate a family child care, group child care, preschool, school-age child care, or child care center unless licensed to do so by the department. 5. A governmental organization may not establish or operate a family child care, group child care, preschool, school-age child care, or child care center without first receiving public approval by certifying, to the department, that it has complied with all rules applicable to family child care, group child care, preschool, or school-age child care, or to child care centers. 6. A license is not required for onsite child care services located in the actual building in which the child's parent is employed, not to exceed ten children per location. 7. An applicant for a license shall submit the following nonrefundable fees with the application: a. The owner of a family child care applying for a license shall pay an annual license fee of twenty dollars or if the license is issued for a two-year period, a fee of thirty-five dollars. b. The owner of a group child care applying for a license shall pay an annual license fee of twenty-five dollars or if the license is issued for a two-year period, a fee of forty-five dollars. c. The owner of a preschool applying for a license shall pay an annual license fee of thirty dollars or if the license is issued for a two-year period, a fee of fifty-five dollars. d. The owner of a child care center applying for a license shall pay an annual license fee of forty dollars or if the license is issued for a two-year period, a fee of seventy-five dollars. e. The owner of a multiple licensed program applying for a license shall pay an annual license fee of fifty dollars or if the license is issued for a two-year period, a fee of ninety-five dollars. 8. An applicant for a license who currently holds a license or self-declaration shall submit the nonrefundable fees set forth in subsection 7 with the application at least sixty days and no more than ninety days before the expiration date of the applicant's current license or self-declaration. If the nonrefundable fees and application are submitted less than sixty days before the expiration date of the applicant's current license or self-declaration, the applicant shall submit with the application two times the nonrefundable fees set forth in subsection 7. 9. In addition to any criminal sanctions or other civil penalties that may be imposed pursuant to law, the owner of an early childhood program who, after being given written notice by the department, continues to provide early childhood services without a license as required by this section is subject to a civil penalty of fifty dollars per day for each day of operation without the required license. The civil penalty may be imposed by the courts or by the department through an administrative hearing pursuant to chapter 28-32. 10. All fees collected under subsections 7 and 8 must be paid to the department and must be used to defray the cost, to the department, of investigating, inspecting, and evaluating the applications or to provide training to providers. 11. Any hours of department-approved training related to child care which an applicant or staff member completes after submitting the fees and application as required under subsection 8 must be counted toward the licensing annual requirements for the following year.