What Qualifications Do You Need to Be a Daycare Director in Idaho?

Director qualifications in Idaho are part of daycare licensing, and the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare (IDHW) — Daycare Licensing, within the Division of Welfare/Self-Reliance — runs it.

The rules live in Idaho Code Title 39, Chapter 11, the 'Basic Day Care License' law, and IDAPA 16.06.03, 'Daycare Licensing'.

Idaho sizes its facilities by enrollment: a family daycare home cares for 6 or fewer children, a group daycare facility for 7 to 12, and a daycare center for 13 or more, and a daycare facility serving 7 or more unrelated children needs a license.

IdahoSTARS, the University of Idaho program behind the state's professional development system and registry, is a contractor — not the licensing agency.

There is no director education rule to meet.

Our researcher read Idaho Code 39-11 and IDAPA 16.06.03 in full and found no education requirement for daycare directors — and none for daycare teachers or caregivers either; Idaho defines staff as anyone 16 or older employed by a daycare facility to provide care and supervision.

What the licensing rules do set for the person operating a facility is an age floor: a person who wishes to operate a daycare facility must be at least 18.

Our research found no ECE credit total anywhere in the state's licensing rules.

None for licensing purposes.

Idaho Code 39-11 and IDAPA 16.06.03, read in full, name no director experience requirement — what they set for the operator is an age-18 floor, not an experience minimum.

The experience that matters in an Idaho director hire is therefore the employer's own hiring standard, not a state rule.

A candidate can document what they bring through IdahoSTARS, the state's professional development system, which maintains an educational pathway and a statewide registry alongside its training approval work.

No. Idaho issues no state director credential and names no administration coursework for daycare directors; the licensing rules our researcher read in full contain no credential requirement for the role.

That also means there is no director credential renewal to track — the recurring requirements that do apply to individuals are the staff training hours, pediatric certification and background-check cycles covered below.

What the state runs alongside licensing is IdahoSTARS, which approves training and keeps an educational pathway and registry a director can use to show qualifications a hiring center asks for; the licensing rules themselves name no credential or education requirement for the role.

The training Idaho requires is a staff requirement: the center's owner or operator must ensure each employee receives 4 hours of ongoing training in child development areas related to daycare every 12 months after the employee's hire date (Idaho Code 39-1119, amended 2025).

Every staff member counted in ratio must also hold current pediatric rescue breathing and pediatric first aid certification, and at least one adult employee with that certification must be on the premises whenever children are present.

Directors are inside the background-check cycle too: owners, operators, staff and anyone 13 or older with unsupervised contact or regularly on the premises pass an IDHW enhanced criminal history and background check at least every five years, and the individual pays for their own check.

The facility license itself is valid for two years.

Our research found no Idaho rule naming an assistant director or a designee to act in the director's absence — Idaho Code 39-11 and IDAPA 16.06.03, read in full, contain no such provision and no director qualification for an assistant to mirror.

What the code does define is staff — anyone 16 or older employed by a daycare facility to provide care and supervision, with no education requirement attached.

Confirm designation questions with IDHW Daycare Licensing rather than assuming the operator rules transfer to another title.

Idaho's professional development system sits outside the licensing rules — which name no education or credential requirement — so nothing in them requires IdahoSTARS participation.

IdahoSTARS — the University of Idaho Center on Disabilities and Human Development, funded by IDHW and CCDBG — runs a statewide registry, an educational pathway, training approval and scholarships for child care providers.

For a director, that registry and pathway are where ECE coursework and training are documented in the state's system, since the licensing side names no education requirement to document.

IdahoSTARS is a contractor, not the licensing agency: licensing questions go to IDHW Daycare Licensing.