Child Care
Losing Local Control over Child Day Care
Arlington’s strong regulations for licensed child day care centers will be at risk if Arlington changes its form of government. Because Arlingtonians value quality day care for their children, the county developed and adopted its own standards for licensed Child Day Care Centers and how they should operate. Arlington County enforces these regulations by inspections by County staff. But under the proposed governmental structure, Arlington County would lose the authority to use its current standards and to do inspections. Our local regulations would be replaced by statewide regulations and inspections would be done by state inspectors. This lose of local control of child day care would be a significant step backwards in terms of safeguarding the health, safety and well being of our children.
Comparing Arlington Standards to State Standards
It is clear from comparing the Arlington County Child Care Center regulations with state requirement that Arlington sets a higher regulatory bar for program standards and the education and training of the staff.. The required ratio of child to adult is much lower in Arlington than it is statewide. For example, Arlington requires one adult for every five two year olds, whereas the state requirement is one adult for every eight children.
Staffing Standards
| Age Group | Size of Group | Child/Adult Ratio | ||
| Arlington | State | Arlington | State | |
| Under 2 years | =/< 9 | No Limit | 3:1 | 5:1 |
| 2 years | =/< 10 | No Limit | 5:1 | 8:1 |
| 3 years | =/< 16 | No Limit | 8:1 | 10:1 |
| 4-5 years | =/< 20 | No Limit | 10:1 | 10:1 |
Minimum Qualifications For Center Directors
Arlington requires Center Directors to have more academic education and experience.
At a minimum, an Arlington Center Director must have two years of college with 12 hours credit in early childhood education or childhood development, plus five years as a teacher or director.
The State requires, at a minimum, that a Center Director have a high school diploma or equivalent, two years of programmatic experience (one year of which in a staff supervisory capacity), and 120 hours of child-related training.
Minimum Qualification For Teachers
Arlington demands more education and special study, specifically in child development.
The County’s minimum requirement is two years of college which includes 15 semester hours in child development and or early childhood education.
The State minimum standard is a high school diploma or equivalent, plus six months of supervised experience, and within six months of employment, 12 hours training related to the care of children.
Aides
Arlington requires that classroom aides complete an 8 week course in child development or an 8 week in-service training program approved by the County. The state’s only requirement is that the aide be at least 16 years old.
Other Items To Compare
Arlington requires a minimum of one toilet and basin for each 15 children and the state requires the same for 20 children. Arlington requires a minimum of 35 square feet of indoor play area per child. The state requires 35 square feet per child in newly licensed centers but permits 25 square feet per child in currently licensed centers. Arlington also requires 300 cubic feet of air space per child.
Inspections
Arlington makes at least two inspections, annually, of centers, one announced and one unannounced. Although the State inspection schedule is not clearly stated in their regulations, but it appears they annual inspections.
Local Control Verses State Control
Our regulations are truly home grown. Former County Board member Ellen Bozman, along with the Commission on the Status of Women and other groups developed Arlington’s Child Day Care Regulations more than 20 years ago. They were successful in lobbying the state legislature to include the regulation of day care centers as one of the powers permitted under the County Manager Plan of government. This means that Arlington can amend the regulations as needed to fit our local needs, centers can call upon the county for technical support, and health and facility inspections are done by local staff members. Parents and citizens who want information or have concerns or complaints can deal directly with the county staff instead of state staff.
In other counties in Virginia, Licensed Child Day Care Centers are regulated by the state, as we would be under the government change. Regulations are developed, adopted and promulgated by the Child Day Care Council, a group of 28 Virginians, appointed by the Governor. Currently, 3 members are from Northern Virginia. Inspections and technical support is provided by state staff members. Recent State cut-backs in staffing are likely to put pressure on the timeliness of inspections and availability of technical support.