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

The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), through its Children's Services Licensing division, licenses child care centers.

The rules a center and its classroom staff follow are Title 391 NAC Chapter 3, effective 2/20/2013 and operative 5/20/2013, and still listed as the current version on the Nebraska Secretary of State's rules site.

That rulebook predates the CCDBG reauthorization, so some practices may also be set by later statute or agency policy.

Where this page and DHHS's current materials disagree, ask the agency — it administers the rule.

A non-certificated center teacher must be at least 18 years old and meet one of three routes: a bachelor's or associate degree in early childhood education, education or child development; a CDA; or a high school diploma or GED plus 1,500 hours of experience in organized group activities for young children.

Within that diploma route, a teacher who has not yet logged the 1,500 hours can qualify through an approved plan to complete 3 credit hours or 45 clock hours of training within six months.

Nebraska also has a lane for certificated school teachers: a teacher holding a valid Nebraska Teaching Certificate who works at a center on accredited or approved school premises is considered to have met the rule's qualifications, background check, health information and training requirements.

A hiring center can set a higher bar than the state minimum, so read each job posting.

Nebraska's center rule sets qualifications for teachers and for support staff; our research found no separate assistant-teacher credential defined in it.

Support staff must be at least 16 years of age and of good moral character, and a teacher must be in the room with them at all times.

Staff who provide direct care — support staff included — also fall under the annual training hours covered below.

The way up from support staff is the teacher route in the section above: age 18 plus a degree, the CDA, or a diploma plus experience or an approved plan.

Our research did not confirm a standalone pre-service hour total for Nebraska center teachers.

The one time-bound training item our research captured is the approved-plan route — under the diploma route, a teacher who has not yet logged the 1,500 hours qualifies by submitting an approved plan to complete 3 credit hours or 45 clock hours of training within six months.

Once you are on staff, the annual training clock in the next section takes over; ask DHHS or your hiring center what onboarding applies before your first day.

Nebraska center staff who provide direct care must obtain a minimum of 12 clock hours of training annually.

Staff who work 20 hours or less each week must obtain six clock hours of training annually instead.

That 12 hours is the state floor — a hiring center can ask for more, so check what your employer requires.

Nebraska's center rule requires at least one staff member with current CPR and first aid training on the premises at all times during the hours and days of operation.

That is a coverage requirement, not a certificate every staff member must hold, so ask a hiring center whether the role you are interviewing for carries the CPR and first aid duty.

On health checks: the rulebook references health information requirements for staff, but our research captured the deemed-qualification reference for certificated teachers, not the detailed health documentation rules for classroom staff.

Ask DHHS what health forms your center needs from you before your first day.

The center rule requires a pre-employment criminal history check through the Nebraska State Patrol or local law enforcement for staff and volunteers 19 and older.

Anyone who has lived in Nebraska less than 12 months also needs documentation of a criminal history record check from their previous state or states of residence.

The rulebook in force took effect in 2013, predating the CCDBG reauthorization; requirements such as fingerprinting may be imposed by later statute or agency policy, and our research did not verify how fingerprinting applies to licensed centers today.

Separately, certificated teachers at centers on accredited or approved school premises are considered to have met the rule's background check, health information and training requirements along with its qualifications.

Ask DHHS's Children's Services Licensing what checks apply to your role before you start.

Nebraska's professional record system is the Nebraska Early Childhood Professional Record System (NECPRS), run by the State Department of Education.

A program cannot be rated above Step One in Step Up to Quality, Nebraska's five-step quality rating system, without reporting its staff's degrees, credentials and training to NECPRS.

For a teacher, the reporting covers your degrees, credentials and training, and the NECPRS level it records drives Nebraska's refundable School Readiness Tax Credit for eligible early childhood staff, whose base amounts are set in statute and adjusted for inflation from tax year 2025, so check the current schedule.