What Qualifications Do You Need to Be a Daycare Director in Arizona?
To be a daycare director in a licensed Arizona child care center, you must be at least 21 years old and qualify under one of four experience-and-education routes in the state's licensing rule.
The routes run from 24 months of experience with a high school diploma and 6 early childhood credit hours down to 3 months of experience with a bachelor's degree in the field.
Directors also complete 18 or more hours of training every 12 months, with at least 6 in program administration, and name a qualified designee in writing.
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At a glance
The Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) Bureau of Child Care Licensing, under A.R.S. Title 36, Chapter 7.1 and A.A.C. Title 9, Chapter 5.
21 for a facility director; a director's designee must also be at least 21.
Depends on the route: a high school diploma with 6 early childhood credit hours, or 60 workshop hours plus 12 in program administration; 24 college credits including 6 in early childhood; an associate degree in early childhood or child development; or a bachelor's degree in early childhood, child development or a closely related field.
From 3 months with a bachelor's degree in the field to 24 months with a high school diploma and early childhood credits.
No single credential is required: routes (a), (c) and (d) qualify without one; an N.A.C., CDA or C.C.P. credential with 18 months of experience is route (b).
18 or more hours every 12 months, at least 6 of them in program administration, planning, development or management.
Ways to qualify as a director in Arizona
- Route (a) — experience plus credits or workshopsRequirement
At least 21, with 24 months of child care experience plus a high school diploma and 6 college credit hours in early childhood, or 60 hours of workshops plus 12 hours in program administration.
- Route (b) — credential or 24 college creditsRequirement
At least 18 months of child care experience plus an N.A.C., CDA or C.C.P. credential, or 24 college credits including 6 in early childhood.
- Route (c) — associate degreeRequirement
Six months of child care experience with an associate degree in early childhood or child development.
- Route (d) — bachelor's degreeRequirement
Three months of child care experience with a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university in early childhood, child development or a closely related field.
Who sets director rules in Arizona?
Director qualifications in Arizona are licensing rules, and the agency that administers them is the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS).
ADHS licenses child care centers — the statute's term is 'child care facility' — under Title 36, Chapter 7.1 of the Arizona Revised Statutes and the administrative rules in Title 9, Chapter 5 of the Arizona Administrative Code.
A facility needs a license when it regularly provides child care for compensation to five or more children not related to the proprietor.
The director's qualifications sit in the staff-qualification rule, R9-5-401, and the tie to licensing is direct: a licensee must submit the name of its designated facility director to ADHS in writing before a license is issued.
What education and ECE credits does an Arizona daycare director need?
The education requirement depends on which of the four qualification routes a director uses, and the rule scales it against experience.
Route (a) pairs 24 months of child care experience with a high school diploma and 6 college credit hours in early childhood — or with 60 hours of workshops plus 12 hours in program administration.
Route (b) accepts 24 college credits, as long as 6 of them are in early childhood, or a credential (covered below).
Routes (c) and (d) swap credit counts for degrees in the field: an associate degree in early childhood or child development, or a bachelor's degree in early childhood, child development or a closely related field.
“A facility director is 21 years of age or older and provides the licensee with documentation of one of the following:”
How much experience does an Arizona daycare director need?
Experience is the lever that shortens the education path.
The rule asks for 24 months of child care experience on the diploma route, 18 months with an N.A.C., CDA or C.C.P. credential or with 24 college credits, 6 months with an associate degree in early childhood or child development, and 3 months with a bachelor's degree in the field.
Whichever route a candidate uses, the proof runs through the employer: the rule requires the director to provide the licensee with documentation of the qualification they rely on.
Does Arizona require a director credential or administration coursework?
No single credential is the price of the job: routes (a), (c) and (d) qualify on experience and education alone.
The credential route is (b), which pairs at least 18 months of child care experience with an N.A.C., a CDA or a C.C.P. credential.
The CDA is the Child Development Associate credential awarded by the Council for Professional Recognition.
Administration coursework appears in the rule as the 12 hours of program administration in route (a)'s workshop option, plus the annual administration hours covered under training below.
What training hours and renewal rules apply to Arizona directors?
Directors train on a 12-month cycle: 18 or more actual hours of training every 12 months, in at least two of the rule's listed topic areas — the same floor the rule sets for center staff who provide child care services.
On that floor, a facility director must complete at least 6 hours in program administration, planning, development or management every 12 months after the director's starting date.
Our research transcribed the qualification routes and this annual training cycle but found no separate renewal or re-credentialing clock for Arizona directors, so confirm with ADHS's Bureau of Child Care Licensing what a center must file if its director changes.
“A facility director completes at least six hours in subsection (B)(1)(c) every 12 months after the facility director's starting date.”
What are the assistant director and designee rules in Arizona?
Arizona's licensing rule handles the assistant-director question through the role it names the facility director's designee.
The director designates an individual who meets the designee requirements, in writing, to act on the director's behalf when the director is not present.
A designee must be at least 21, and the qualification bar is lighter than the director's: one combination is 12 months of child care experience plus a high school diploma and 3 credit hours, or 30 workshop hours, in early childhood.
The designee also matters for daily staffing — when six or more children are present, a center must have the director or a qualified designee plus one additional staff member on site.
“Designates, in writing, an individual who meets the requirements of R9-5-401(2) to act on behalf of the facility director when the facility director is not present in the facility;”
Have Arizona's director rules changed recently?
The four qualification routes are long-standing: the staff-qualification rule that holds them, R9-5-401 of the Arizona Administrative Code, was last amended by an exempt rulemaking effective September 30, 2010, according to the rule history published with the rule.
Long-standing is not the same as frozen — confirm the current text of R9-5-401 with ADHS before you qualify under a route.
What This Page Does, and Doesn’t, Cover
This page summarizes the Arizona licensing rules, agency pages and other sources listed below, as read for this state-by-state daycare director requirements series, current as of October 2026. It is not a substitute for the instructions the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) Bureau of Child Care Licensing publishes. For the rest of the picture in Arizona, see daycare teacher requirements in Arizona, quality rating system (QRIS) in Arizona, daycare licensing steps in Arizona, and childcare director pay in Arizona.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you become a daycare director in Arizona?
Meet one of the four qualification routes in A.A.C.
R9-5-401 and be at least 21.
The routes: 24 months of child care experience with a high school diploma and 6 early childhood credit hours, or 60 workshop hours plus 12 in program administration; 18 months of experience plus an N.A.C., CDA or C.C.P. credential, or 24 college credits including 6 in early childhood; 6 months with an early childhood associate degree; or 3 months with a bachelor's in the field.
A center must submit its designated facility director's name to ADHS in writing before the license is issued.
Can you be a daycare director in Arizona without a degree?
Yes.
Route (a) requires no degree: 24 months of child care experience, a high school diploma and 6 college credit hours in early childhood, or 60 hours of workshops plus 12 hours in program administration.
Route (b) also runs without a degree, through 24 college credits including 6 in early childhood, or through an N.A.C., CDA or C.C.P. credential with 18 months of experience.
The degree routes ask for 6 months of experience with an associate degree and 3 months with a bachelor's.
How many training hours does an Arizona daycare director need each year?
At least 18 actual hours of training every 12 months, in at least two of the rule's listed topic areas.
Within those hours, a facility director must complete at least 6 in program administration, planning, development or management, due every 12 months from the director's starting date.
The 18-hour floor is the same one the rule sets for center staff who provide child care services.
Do preschool directors need the same qualifications as daycare directors in Arizona?
Arizona licenses 'child care facilities' — programs regularly providing child care for compensation to five or more children not related to the proprietor — and sets one facility-director standard for the licensed program.
Where a preschool operates as a licensed child care facility, the same A.A.C.
R9-5-401 qualifications apply to its director.
Confirm with ADHS how a specific program is licensed.
Does the director have to be on site at all times in an Arizona daycare?
The rule is built for the director's absence: a facility director designates a qualified designee, in writing, to act when the director is not present.
A designee must be at least 21 and meet a lighter qualification, such as 12 months of experience plus a high school diploma and 3 credit hours, or 30 workshop hours, in early childhood.
When six or more children are present, the director or a qualified designee plus one additional staff member must be on site.
More Arizona Resources
Sources
- Arizona Revised Statutes, Title 36, Child Care Facilities (Arizona State Legislature) (retrieved 2026-10-05)
- Arizona Administrative Code R9-5-401 — staff qualifications (Cornell LII) (retrieved 2026-10-05)
- Arizona Administrative Code R9-5-403 — training (Cornell LII) (retrieved 2026-10-05)
- Arizona Administrative Code R9-5-301 — facility director and designee (Cornell LII) (retrieved 2026-10-05)
- Arizona Administrative Code R9-5-404 — staffing (Cornell LII) (retrieved 2026-10-05)
- Council for Professional Recognition — CDA educator pathways (retrieved 2026-10-05)
Sourced from the documents listed above. Verified October 2026. This is career and employer information, not licensing or legal advice. Confirm current rules with the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) Bureau of Child Care Licensing.