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

South Carolina licenses child care centers through the Division of Early Care and Education at the SC Department of Social Services (SCDSS), which regulates providers through four regional offices.

Director qualifications sit in the state's center licensing regulations, S.C. Code of Regulations Chapter 114, Article 5: Reg. 114-503 sets the director's minimum age and the qualification options, and those center rules were last amended effective June 22, 2018.

A child care center in South Carolina is a facility licensed for 13 or more children.

Reg. 114-503.K(3) lists five qualification routes, and education is what separates them.

The bachelor's routes are a bachelor's or higher degree in early childhood education, child development or a related field with at least 18 credit hours in child development or ECE, or a bachelor's degree from a state-approved college or university in any subject area.

Below the bachelor's level, the rule accepts an associate degree in the field with 18 ECE or child-development credit hours, a child development diploma or the CDA credential, or a high school diploma or GED paired with the ECD 101 college course.

Experience rises as education falls.

A bachelor's degree in any subject pairs with 6 months' experience working with children in a licensed, approved or registered child care facility, and the associate route asks for 6 months' experience alongside its 18 credit hours.

A child development diploma or CDA requires 1 year of work experience.

The high-school route asks the most: 3 years' experience in a licensed, approved or registered child care facility, one year of which included supervising child care staff.

Reg. 114-503.K(3)'s qualification list does not include a standalone director credential.

The credential-based routes are a diploma in child development or early childhood education from a state-approved institution, or the child development associate credential (CDA), each paired with 1 year of work experience.

Administration preparation enters through the annual training rule instead, where at least 5 of the director's clock hours must relate to program administration.

Beyond licensing, SC Endeavors — which runs the state's early childhood workforce registry — awards three levels of early childhood credentials built on coursework at South Carolina's 16 technical colleges, starting with ECD 101.

Its Level Two Director Credential requires ECD 105 Guidance and Classroom Management, ECD 108 Family and Community Relations and ECD 109 Administration and Supervision, and SC Endeavors pays one-time credential bonuses of $400 at Level One, $600 at Level Two — a band that includes the director credential — and $1,000 at Level Three for courses taken since 2001 at an SC technical or community college.

The rule requires directors to complete at least 20 clock hours of training annually.

At least 5 of those clock hours must relate to program administration, and at least 5 must cover child growth and development and/or health and safety, with first aid and CPR excluded from the count.

Up to 10 extra hours can carry over.

The center director or a designee must be on-site during all operating hours.

A center co-director is required when the program operates more than 12 hours a day.

Co-directors clear the same bar as the director: the rule requires the center director and center co-directors to be at least 21 years old and to meet one of the same qualification options.

A program with long operating hours therefore staffs the director role with two people who each meet Reg. 114-503.K(3).

SC Endeavors runs South Carolina's early childhood workforce registry, which issues a State Registry ID and maintains the official DSS training transcript and a training calendar.

The three credential levels described above, from ECD 101 upward, are administered through SC Endeavors as well.

Our research did not confirm whether directors must hold registry membership, so ask SCDSS or SC Endeavors what applies to a specific center.

A few rule lines beyond qualifications touch the director's file.

The center's staff records must include three letters of reference for the center director.

State background-check law for child care staff requires a SLED state fingerprint check, an FBI fingerprint check, a DSS Central Registry check and sex offender checks, plus registry checks in every state the person lived in during the previous 5 years.

Our reading of Reg. 114-503 found no director qualifications that vary by center size — the same options appear to apply to every licensed center, which the rule defines as a facility licensed for 13 or more children — and SCDSS can confirm how it applies them to a specific center.