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VDOE presents final proposed child-care regulation revisions after multi-year review; highlights include increased flexibility and reduced burdens
Summary
VDOE's Office of Child Care presented final proposed revisions to licensed child day center regulations following a stakeholder process that produced over 750 public comments. Key changes include increased supervision flexibility for school-age children, a variance process for ratios, expanded staff-qualification flexibility, and reduced administrative burdens (e.g., removal of repeat TB testing). The board received the item for first review and will consider final action in August.
The Virginia Department of Education's Office of Child Care (OCC) presented final proposed revisions to regulations for licensed child day centers after a multi-year stakeholder process.
Jeff Williams, who oversees the Office of Child Care, said OCC transferred from the Department of Social Services in 2021 and now oversees approximately 6,500 programs statewide. He told the board the regulatory update began in December 2021 and involved a temporary stakeholder work group, endorsement by the Early Childhood Advisory Council (ECAC), and multiple public-comment periods that together produced hundreds of comments (staff cited more than 750 comments across rounds and more than 240 comments in a recent notice period). The revisions before the board reflect both technical and substantive edits across many sections.
Key highlights the department identified include increased supervision flexibility for school-age children and a built-in variance process for ratios and group size; expanded staff flexibility (including allowing most training except orientation to count toward annual training and allowing certain pre-service and orientation to count toward lead-teacher qualification); and reduced administrative burdens (removing duplicate immunization and physicals documentation requirements, eliminating repeat TB testing, and removing requirements related to undesignated epinephrine). Staff said these changes aim to balance child safety with operational feasibility and cost impacts on providers.
Williams described the next steps in the regulatory process: final review by the board in August, attorney-general review, executive branch review including gubernatorial consideration, a 30-day final-adoption period if the governor approves, and an implementation timeline with training and office hours for providers prior to the effective date.
Superintendent Conway and members of the board praised the stakeholder engagement and emphasized the need to balance health and safety with the operational capacity of providers. The board accepted the item for first review and will revisit the regulation for final action in August, after executive and attorney-general reviews.
