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

Daycares in Georgia are licensed by Bright from the Start: Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL).

Centers answer to the Rules and Regulations for Child Care Learning Centers, Ga.

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R. & Regs. 591-1-1, which define a Child Care Learning Center as a place that receives, for pay, seven or more children under 18 for group care for fewer than 24 hours a day.

Homes caring for at least three but not more than six unrelated children under 13 for pay answer to DECAL's Family Child Care Learning Home rules in Chapter 290-2-3.

So the first operator decision is which of the two rulebooks your operation falls under, because each rulebook sets its own application steps, staffing rules and fees.

The Georgia rules our research captured name two license types for paid day care.

A Family Child Care Learning Home is the license for caring for at least three but not more than six unrelated children under 13 for pay; caring for more than six children for pay requires a Child Care Learning Center license.

A learning home's capacity is capped at six unrelated children, plus up to two additional children aged 3 and older for two designated one-hour periods a day with DECAL approval, and no more than 12 children under 13 in total when related or resident children are present.

A Child Care Learning Center receives seven or more children under 18 for pay for group care for fewer than 24 hours a day.

If your operation sits somewhere between a home daycare and a center, or you plan a group-home style program, confirm its category with DECAL before you sign a lease — the two chapters above are the rulebooks our research captured for homes and centers.

For a center, the rule puts training before paperwork: an applicant must attend a DECAL-approved licensing orientation of no more than 16 hours prior to filing for licensure.

Before DECAL issues an initial center license, the director responsible for day-to-day operations must have completed a DECAL-approved 40-hour director's training course.

Each address is licensed separately, even when the same owner operates several centers.

For a family child care learning home, the applicant who will run the day-to-day operations completes DECAL-approved pre-service training before submitting the application: a licensure orientation, a pre-licensure provider-competencies course and CPR/first aid.

Our research captured these application prerequisites but not a step-by-step account of DECAL's pre-licensing inspection visit and not a processing timeline; ask DECAL what your site should expect.

Center directors must be at least 21 and meet one of 13 education-and-experience combinations.

In centers licensed for 19 or more, each group needs a lead teacher of at least 18 with a listed credential; an uncredentialed hire can enroll in a qualifying program within 6 months and finish within 18, with a written professional development plan on file.

Aides there may be 16, though no 16- or 17-year-old may be solely responsible for children; centers licensed for 18 or fewer require aides to be 18.

Center direct-care staff complete health and safety orientation within 90 days, pediatric CPR and first aid within 45 days, and 10 clock hours of training each year after the first; at least 50% of caregiver staff must hold both whenever a child is present.

Center directors, employees and provisional employees submit a Records Check Application and fingerprints; directors and employees need a satisfactory Comprehensive Records Check Determination before being present while children are in care, with re-checks at least every five years.

Home providers must be at least 21 and, on applications filed on or after July 1, 2009, hold a CDA, an ECE certificate or degree, or a GaPSC Paraprofessional Certificate.

Georgia sets center staff-to-child ratios and maximum group sizes by age: infants under 1 (or non-walkers under 18 months) are staffed at 1:6 in groups of 12, 4-year-olds at 1:18 in groups of 36, and the schedule runs to 1:25 for ages 6 and older.

Maximum group sizes do not apply to centers licensed for 18 or fewer children, nor to playground time and special activities of up to 2 hours, though the ratios must still be maintained.

In centers licensed for 19 or more, a mixed-age group takes the ratio of the youngest age group that makes up more than 20% of the children, and children under 3 must be housed in separate physical areas from older children except at early-morning arrival and late-afternoon departure.

Ratios may double for children 3 and older during daytime rest periods when at least one staff person stays in each room providing direct supervision and all required staff remain in the building.

On the home side, a family child care learning home must add an assistant aged at least 16 whenever more than three children under 12 months, more than six children under 3, or more than eight children under 5 are present.

The Georgia rules set annual license fees.

A Child Care Learning Center pays by licensed capacity: $50 for 1 to 25 children, $100 for 26 to 50, $150 for 51 to 100, $200 for 101 to 200 and $250 for more than 200, with late fees up to $250.

A Family Child Care Learning Home pays $50 a year, also with late fees up to $250.

On the center side, each address is licensed separately even under one owner, so a second site carries its own license and fee.

Our research captured these fee schedules but not a DECAL processing timeline, and it found no Georgia startup-cost figures for build-out, equipment or insurance; ask DECAL for the current fee schedule before you budget the business.

For national context only, a September 2021 U.S. Treasury report described most for-profit child care facilities as operating on razor-thin profit margins usually below 1 percent, and — citing a Center for American Progress cost analysis — put wages at at least 50-60 percent of child care expenses on U.S. averages.

Start with DECAL itself.

DECAL Scholars administers educational assistance for Georgia early educators — CDA scholarships, incentives, educational counseling and academic scholarships — a staffing lever too, since its CDA scholarships fund a credential on the lists for both lead teachers and home providers.

Georgia's quality rating system is Quality Rated, which assigns one, two or three stars to programs that meet or exceed minimum state requirements; participation is voluntary, but as of December 31, 2021 all child care providers must be Quality Rated (or in Provisional or Probationary status) to receive CAPS subsidy funding.

The rating also carries staffing supports: the Quality Rated Workforce Bonus is an annual $500 payment to eligible staff in rated centers and family child care learning homes, and Commitment to Quality quarterly payments go to CAPS programs rated 2 or 3 stars — confirm current-year funding with DECAL.

One planning note: the licensing rule itself does not make registration in Georgia's professional development system (GaPDS) a licensing requirement, but Quality Rated requires all instructional and administrative staff to register.

Our research did not confirm a Georgia startup grant for new daycare operators; ask DECAL what funding is currently available.