Gov. Little signs bill deregulating child care facilities to address Idaho’s shortage

Kyle Pfannenstiel

Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed on Feb. 18. | Sarah A. Miller, Idaho Statesman

BOISE (Idaho Capital Sun) — Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed into law a bill to deregulate child care centers in hopes of addressing Idaho’s child care shortage crisis. 

House Bill 243 loosens state-set minimum child-to-staff ratio standards. The bill also preempts local governments from having more stringent child care regulations than issued by the state.

The law takes effect July 1.

The Idaho Legislature widely passed the bill, with 80 votes in support and 17 votes against, mostly from Democratic lawmakers. Little signed the bill Thursday, according to the governor’s office’s legislation tracker. 

Even after the Senate amended the bill to avoid fully repealing minimum child-to-staff ratios, many child care advocates remained opposed to the bill — worrying that loosening regulations will risk harm to kids. 

Idaho’s existing child-to-staff ratios are the 41st loosest in the nation, compared to all 50 states and the District of Columbia, a report by Idaho Voices for Children found. In other words, Idaho’s existing state-set child care standards let individual staffers care for more children at a given time than most states. 

The new law will leave Idaho with the 45th least stringent child-to-staff ratios in the nation, Idaho Voices for Children Executive Director Christine Tiddens previously told the Idaho Capital Sun.

The bill was cosponsored by Republican lawmakers Reps. Barbara Ehardt, from Idaho Falls, and Rod Furniss, from Rigby, and Sen. Carl Bjerke, R-Coeur d’Alene. 

How the bill will loosen Idaho’s child-to-staff child care ratio standards

The bill will retain the state’s points-based ratio that only allows up to 12-points, determined by kids’ ages, per each staff member. But the underlying points for kids would almost all be reduced.

Here’s how the bill will change Idaho’s child-to-staff ratio standards:

• Each child under 24 months old would remain at two points.
• Each child at least 24 months old but younger than 36 months would be 1.33 points. That is a decrease from the current 1.5 points in Idaho law.
• Each child at least 36 months old but younger than 5 years old would be 0.923 points. That is a decrease from 1 point in Idaho law.
• Each child at least 5 years old but younger than 13 years old would be 0.48 points. That is a decrease from 0.5 points in Idaho law.