AMARILLO, TEXAS -- Operations in 9,300 licensed daycare across the state of Texas may be changing soon. At issue is the ratio of children to those who oversee them...and is enough being down to protect our kids.
Specifically, the state wants to know if there are enough people watching kids in daycare.
As it's currently set up, one adult can oversee as many as nine 18-month old kids, and one adult can also look after as many as eleven 27-month olds. The department of family and protective services wants input on whether more people should be mandated to drop that ratio down for safety reasons.
But if daycare centers increase their numbers...the amount you have to pay for their services could also be incr4easing as well.
Greg Cunningham with the Department of Family & Protective Services says, "It always comes down to safety of the kids versus what it's going to cost to implement it...and obviously our first priority is going to be safety. that's what we're looking at...but we want daycare to be affordable and accessible. the last thing we want is for daycare to get so expensive that people are driven to go into unlicensed daycare."
One state official noted that 75% of licensed day care centers in Texas already have ratios as low as those being proposed.
