What Are the Requirements to Be a Daycare Teacher in Minnesota?

The Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) licenses child care centers and monitors them for compliance; licensing moved to DCYF from the Department of Human Services.

With that move, Minnesota's child care licensing statutes were renumbered from chapter 245A to chapter 142B, and DCYF says the requirements themselves did not change.

Center staff qualifications currently sit in Minnesota Rules chapter 9503, known as Rule 3.

A 2026 session law repeals Rule 3 and replaces it with new statute chapter 142H effective July 1, 2027, so this page gives both versions.

Under current Rule 3 (Minnesota Rules 9503.0032), a center teacher must be at least 18 years old and meet one of nine credential and experience combinations.

The same rule chapter sets a staff distribution pattern in which the first staff member needed to meet the required staff-to-child ratio must be a teacher, so each staffed group is anchored by someone holding these qualifications.

A CDA credential in the preschool or infant/toddler setting requires 1,560 hours of experience as an assistant teacher, aide or student intern and no additional education.

With only a high school diploma or GED, a teacher needs 4,160 hours of experience as an assistant teacher plus 24 quarter credits.

A bachelor's degree in any field also works, with 1,040 hours of experience and 18 quarter credits.

From July 1, 2027, new statute section 142H.06 keeps the age at 18 and requires a high school diploma or GED plus one of five options: 12 semester credits and 480 hours of experience; 100 hours of commissioner-approved training within the previous five years and 480 hours of experience; a Montessori credential; an accredited ECE/child development certificate, diploma or degree; or a CDA.

Minnesota assistant teachers must be at least 18 years old and work under a teacher.

Under current Rule 3 (Minnesota Rules 9503.0033), a high school graduate needs 2,080 hours of experience as an aide or student intern plus 12 quarter credits, while an assistant teacher who holds a CDA needs nothing more.

From July 1, 2027, new statute section 142H.07 asks for a high school diploma or GED and any one of three things: at least 6 postsecondary semester credits, at least 50 hours of commissioner-approved training within the previous five years, or 160 hours of experience while working toward a teacher credential.

Our research confirms topic-specific training with deadlines rather than a single pre-service hour total for Minnesota center staff.

Staff caring for infants complete sudden unexpected infant death (SUID) training at orientation, and staff caring for children under school age complete abusive head trauma training at orientation.

Pediatric first aid and pediatric CPR must be complete before you have unsupervised contact with a child, and no later than the first 90 days of employment.

Ask the hiring center or DCYF what else its orientation covers.

Current Minnesota law requires center directors and staff persons who work more than 20 hours per week to complete 24 hours of in-service training each calendar year.

Staff who work 20 hours or less per week must complete 12 hours.

That statute is repealed effective July 1, 2027 and replaced by the training provisions of new chapter 142H, and the new in-service hour totals are not extracted in our research, so confirm the 2027 figures with DCYF.

Minnesota center staff, substitutes and unsupervised volunteers must complete pediatric first aid training and pediatric CPR before having unsupervised direct contact with a child, and no later than the first 90 days of employment.

The renewal cycle is every second calendar year.

On other health checks, such as a pre-employment physical, whether Minnesota requires one for center staff was not established in our research; ask DCYF what documentation a center must keep on file.

Minnesota requires an enhanced child care background study for center staff.

The study is fingerprint-based and includes Minnesota BCA and FBI checks, Minnesota predatory offender and child abuse and neglect registry checks, out-of-state abuse registry checks for every state you lived in during the past five years, and NCIC/National Sex Offender Registry checks.

A new study is required every five years.

You are fingerprinted and photographed at a DHS-approved location and have 14 days from study initiation to get fingerprinted; centers submit studies through the Department of Human Services' NETStudy 2.0 system, while home-based providers go through counties.

The listed fees are $44 for the background study and $10.50 for fingerprinting for adults, though DHS says that until further notice providers are not charged for enhanced child care background studies.

Staff caring for infants need at least 30 minutes of sudden unexpected infant death (SUID) training at orientation and every year after that.

Staff caring for children under school age need at least 30 minutes of abusive head trauma training at orientation and yearly.

Both requirements sit in the same training statute as the first aid and CPR deadlines.

Yes, as aides.

Minnesota center aides must be at least 16 years old.

An aide under 18 must be directly supervised by a teacher or assistant teacher, except when helping with sleeping children or with washing, toileting and diapering.

Teachers and assistant teachers must be at least 18, so the aide role is the classroom role Rule 3 opens to 16- and 17-year-olds.

Federal CCDF rules require states to describe a training and professional development framework that addresses workforce information, but the federal rule does not require individual staff to join a workforce registry.

In Minnesota, the registry requirement our research confirms runs through Parent Aware: staff at licensed programs seeking a Two- to Four-Star rating need an Individual Membership in Develop, Minnesota's workforce registry.

Our research did not confirm a licensing requirement for individual staff to join Develop; ask your center or DCYF.

Minnesota's 2026 session law repeals the current center rule, Minnesota Rules chapter 9503, known as Rule 3, including its staff qualification parts, and replaces it with new statute chapter 142H effective July 1, 2027; until then Rule 3 still applies.

The change lowers the experience burden: today a high school graduate needs 4,160 hours as an assistant teacher plus 24 quarter credits, and a CDA holder needs 1,560 hours as an assistant teacher, aide or student intern.

From July 1, 2027 a teacher qualifies with a high school diploma or GED plus one of five options, including 12 semester credits and 480 hours of experience or a CDA by itself.

The statute that sets annual in-service hours is replaced the same day, and the new totals are not extracted in our research, so check with DCYF before planning training for 2027.