After strong public pushback, panel votes to restore grandfathering for existing child‑care buildings

A Virginia advisory committee reversed course on a contentious draft regulatory change after hearing broad public comment that the change would shrink capacity at existing child‑care centers.

Department staff presented a set of technical edits to the day‑care regulations and described what would happen if two words—"and subsequent licensees"—were removed from the provision that currently allows existing licensed buildings to operate under a 25 square‑feet‑per‑child standard. Staff said striking the language means any new licensee or new license linked to a building would be required to meet the 35 square‑feet‑per‑child standard used for newly licensed sites, a change that could reduce capacity and affect the valuation and saleability of some centers.

The department read 23 public comments; staff said 20 of them used similar language urging retention of the grandfathering clause to protect centers that were built or licensed under the earlier 25‑sq‑ft standard. Written and oral comments said automatic application of the larger square‑footage standard to new operators would force some centers to disenroll children or close programs and would destabilize small, long‑established providers.

Committee members debated options including: (a) leaving the changed text as proposed, (b) reinserting the "subsequent licensees" language exactly as it had read, or (c) keeping the change but setting a multi‑year sunset to give providers time to adapt. After discussion the committee moved to reinstate the three words "and subsequent licensees" into the relevant paragraph and asked the Department of Education to produce an analysis of how many licensed sites would be affected and to collect evidence comparing outcomes tied to 25 vs. 35 sq ft per child. The roll‑call vote, as recorded in the transcript, passed (12 yes, 7 no).

Department staff said they will work with legal counsel on timing and will circulate supporting slides and underlying studies (including references to prior JLARC work) to committee members; they also said they would bring the analysis back to the committee before further board or town‑hall steps.

What comes next: the reinsertion will be carried forward in the department's materials as it prepares for board review; DOE committed to a data analysis to quantify affected sites and to summarize evidence about health, safety and quality differences related to square‑footage standards.