How to Start a Daycare in Arizona: Licensing Steps, Costs and Staffing

Arizona child care centers — the statute calls them child care facilities — are licensed by the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) under A.R.S.

Title 36, Chapter 7.1, and A.A.C.

Title 9, Chapter 5.

The licensing threshold is written into the definition: a facility requiring the license is any facility in which child care is regularly provided for compensation for five or more children not related to the proprietor.

Two smaller formats sit outside the center license and are covered in the next section: ADHS certifies child care group homes, and DES may certify small family child care homes.

When a requirement on this page and ADHS's current rule text disagree, the rule governs.

Arizona statute sorts operations into three regimes.

An ADHS license covers any facility in which child care is regularly provided for compensation for five or more children not related to the proprietor.

Below it, an ADHS child care group home is a residence providing care for compensation to five to ten children through age 12; group homes are certified rather than licensed.

The group home provider must live in the residence, be at least 21 and hold a high school diploma or equivalent or a degree, the home needs an additional adult staff member when six or more enrolled children are present, staff complete at least 12 hours of training every 12 months, and the certificate holder carries at least $100,000 of general liability insurance.

At the smallest tier, DES may certify a family child care home provider for up to four children for compensation, or up to six total when no more than four are paid; no more than two children may be under age 1 unless they are a sibling group, and the applicant must be at least 18, designate a backup provider and give three references.

Arizona's statute and rules pin down specific pre-issuance requirements; our research did not surface a published step-by-step application checklist.

A licensee must submit the name of the designated facility director in writing to ADHS before a license is issued.

The license a new operator receives is not transferable from person to person and is valid only for the quarters occupied at the time of issuance, so a seller's license does not pass to a buyer; ask ADHS how a change of ownership is handled.

Our research did not confirm Arizona's application forms, a pre-licensing orientation, or the inspection process and timeline ADHS uses before a license is issued; ADHS's Bureau of Child Care Licensing administers the process, so ask the agency what your operation type should expect before you file.

Directors are 21 or older and document one of four routes: 24 months of child care experience plus a high school diploma and 6 college credit hours in early childhood (or 60 workshop hours plus 12 in program administration); 18 months 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 or child development associate degree; or 3 months with a bachelor's in the field or a closely related one.

Directors put at least six of their 18 annual hours into program administration, planning, development or management.

The teacher-caregiver (the rule's lead teacher) is at least 18, with 6 months of child care experience plus a high school diploma or equivalent (or 12 college credits including 6 in early childhood), or an early childhood or child development degree (associate or bachelor's) or an N.A.C., CDA or C.C.P. credential with no experience minimum.

Child care personnel, volunteers included, need a valid DPS fingerprint clearance card before starting work; staff who provide child care services complete facility orientation within 10 calendar days of starting and 18 or more training hours every 12 months in at least two listed topic areas.

Arizona's center ratios in A.A.C.

R9-5-404 start at the youngest ages: infants are staffed at 1:5, or 2:11, and 1-year-olds at 1:6, or 2:13.

The ratio that applies to a group is set by the age of its youngest child.

Teacher-caregiver aides and student aides may not be counted in the ratio, while volunteers who meet the director, teacher-caregiver or assistant teacher-caregiver qualifications may count.

And the ratio table is not the whole staffing rule: when six or more enrolled children are present, the center must also have the director or a qualified designee plus one additional staff member on site.

Confirm the full current table for every age band with ADHS before you set hiring plans.

Arizona sets licensure fees by ADHS rule rather than in the statute: the statute authorizes ADHS's director to establish and collect fees for child care facilities and a fee for late filing of applications, and the department collects annual fees.

The current dollar amounts were not established in our research, so ask ADHS for the current fee schedule before you budget.

The timeline has one fixed point in our research: a center license is valid from the date of issuance unless it is revoked or suspended or the licensure fee goes unpaid — the statute sets no fixed expiry date.

One insurance requirement the rules do set: a child care group home certificate holder must carry general liability insurance with at least $100,000 of coverage, a coverage minimum rather than a premium.

Beyond that, our research did not confirm Arizona startup-cost figures for a center or a home.

Arizona's quality rating and improvement system is Quality First, funded by First Things First: participation is free for regulated child care centers, homes and preschool programs, and the program reports partnering with more than 1,100 programs.

Funding for enrolled programs varies by star rating and can pay for materials, facility improvements, staff professional development and staff recognition, and enrolled programs may also offer Quality First Scholarships to low-income families with children birth to 5.

Programs are selected throughout the year based on available funding, and a rating can also make a program eligible for enhanced DES reimbursement rates.

On the staffing side, First Things First College Scholarships fund degrees and credentials for people working with children birth to 5, with access limited to Arizona Early Childhood Workforce Registry members, and DES's Professional Career Pathway Project (PCPP) scholarship is funded through federal CCDBG dollars.

Our research did not confirm a startup-specific grant for new Arizona operators; ask First Things First and DES what is currently available.

The staff-qualification rule behind the numbers above, A.A.C.

R9-5-401, shows a last amendment by exempt rulemaking effective September 30, 2010 in its rule history.

Rule text can change between reads, and this research pass could not locate the current fee amounts in A.A.C.

Title 9, Chapter 5, so pull the current rules from ADHS and confirm each figure with the agency before you file anything.