How to Start a Daycare in Vermont: Licensing Steps, Costs and Staffing
To start a daycare in Vermont, you register or license with the Department for Children and Families' Child Development Division (CDD): the rule requires registration or licensure once you care for children from more than two families other than your own.
Home providers operate as a registered home (up to 10 children year-round) or a licensed home (up to 12); centers are licensed as Center Based Child Care and Preschool Programs under rules effective April 17, 2022.
Director and staff qualifications, ratios, fees and state resources are laid out below.
Verify before you rely on this
At a glance
The Vermont Department for Children and Families (DCF), Child Development Division (CDD) — centers under the CBCCPP rules, homes under the family child care regulations.
Registered family child care home (up to 10 children year-round), licensed family child care home (up to 12) and Center Based Child Care and Preschool Programs (centers).
Not established in our research — a required pre-application orientation was not verified; ask DCF CDD what your application includes.
Not established in our research — Vermont center application fees were not verified; ask DCF CDD what fees currently apply.
At least 21. Up to 12 children: a director qualified as a teacher associate; 13 to 59 children: a teacher associate plus a Program Director Step One Certificate or the named credits.
Not established in our research — we did not capture Vermont's pre-licensing inspection steps; ask DCF CDD what your site should expect.
Steps to a license in Vermont
- Confirm you need registration or a licenseStep
Anyone caring for children from more than two families other than their own must be registered or licensed by DCF's Child Development Division.
- Registered family child care homeRegistration
Up to 10 children year-round (12 under the summer-vacation option), with the provider present and counted in ratio at least 60% of operating hours.
- Licensed family child care homeLicense
Up to 12 children, with staffing charts allowing up to 6 under 24 months with three staff.
- Center Based Child Care and Preschool Program (CBCCPP)License
A full center license under the CBCCPP rules: effective for three years, applied for separately for each site, and not transferable.
- Clear staff fingerprint checksStep
New center staff submit a Records Check Authorization and are fingerprinted before working with children; the Division processes clearances within 45 days of the Vermont Crime Information Center receiving all documentation.
Which agency licenses daycares in Vermont?
Vermont child care is licensed by the Department for Children and Families (DCF), Child Development Division (CDD).
Centers follow the Licensing Regulations for Center Based Child Care and Preschool Programs (CBCCPP), effective April 17, 2022; family child care homes follow the state's family child care regulations.
The CBCCPP rules were amended by a CDD memo effective October 1, 2024, and a full rewrite was in draft as of late 2025, with no final proposed rules posted when we checked.
Where this page and the current rulebook disagree, the rulebook governs.
Vermont daycare license types: home and center
Vermont requires anyone caring for children from more than two families other than their own to be registered or licensed by DCF's Child Development Division (33 V.S.A. §§105(b) & 3502).
Homes have two tiers.
A registered family child care home serves up to 10 children year-round, or 12 under the summer-vacation option, and its provider must be present and counted in ratio at least 60% of operating hours, with the provider's own children under 24 months counting toward the under-24-month limit.
A licensed family child care home serves up to 12, with staffing charts allowing up to 6 children under 24 months with three staff.
Centers are licensed separately as Center Based Child Care and Preschool Programs under the CBCCPP rules.
What are the application and inspection steps in Vermont?
Vermont's rulebook fixes a few anchors for applicants.
A full center license is effective for three years, a separate application is required for each site, and licenses are not transferable; the license must be posted and is valid only for the location listed on it.
Under the center rules, new staff submit a Records Check Authorization and are fingerprinted at a Division-designated location before working with children, and no one may be left alone with children until the Division approves the fingerprint-based check; the Division must process clearances within 45 days of the Vermont Crime Information Center receiving all documentation and may reuse a check completed within the last 5 years.
Our research did not capture Vermont's application steps in sequence or a pre-licensing inspection walk-through; ask DCF CDD what your operation type should expect.
“A license is valid only for the location listed on the license.”
What are the director and staff requirements for a Vermont daycare?
Program directors must be at least 21; qualifications scale with licensed capacity: up to 12 children, a director qualified as a teacher associate; 13 to 59, a teacher associate plus a Program Director Step One Certificate or 3 credits each in program management/supervision and curriculum; 60 or more, a director qualified as a teacher with 24 additional months of experience with children grade 3 or younger and a Step Two Certificate or Step Three Credential (or 3 curriculum plus 9 management/supervision/administration credits).
Centers licensed for 13 or more add: the director completes a 3-credit course in managing an early care and education program, including budgeting and financial management, within a year of starting, or the licensee employs a business manager with at least an associate degree in business.
A qualified director must be on site at least 60% of operating hours.
Each group is led by someone qualified at least as a teacher associate for at least 75% of operating hours.
Staff complete 15 clock hours of professional development a year; staff counted in ratio obtain pediatric first aid and infant/child CPR within 3 months of starting and stay certified.
Family child care homes qualify providers on a separate track.
What ratios will you staff to in Vermont?
Center staffing follows the CBCCPP ratio chart: infants from birth to 18 months are staffed at 1:4 in groups of up to 8, and children from 36 months to kindergarten at 1:10 in groups of up to 20; ratios and group sizes rise with age up to 1:13 in groups of 26 for first grade and up.
Mixed-age groups must meet the ratio and group size for the youngest child in the group.
Only staff who meet Vermont's professional development rules, are physically present and are working with children count in ratio; classroom aides and partner staff do not, and children of staff count when present.
At nap time, at least one staff member supervises each group of sleeping children 24 months and older, with the other required staff within direct hearing distance.
What fees, timeline and startup costs should you plan for?
A full center license runs three years, with a separate application required for each site and no transferability.
Beyond that, our research could not verify the dollar figures: Vermont center application fees and any required pre-application orientation were not verified, and family child care registration and license fees and processing times were not verified either — ask DCF CDD what fees currently apply to your operation type before you budget.
Our research also found no Vermont startup-cost figures; build your budget from your own site and staffing plan.
What grants and resources can Vermont daycare operators use?
Two state systems matter to a new operator.
Vermont's quality recognition and improvement system is STARS (STep Ahead Recognition System), covering centers, family child care homes and afterschool programs; programs self-assess with state-approved tools to build a continuous quality improvement plan, and DCF may pay one-time incentives for achieving or advancing a STARS level plus quality factor payments above the base subsidy rate, subject to funding.
Our research did not verify a fixed star count for STARS; CDD publishes level criteria separately.
On the workforce side, professional development is tracked in the Bright Futures Information System (BFIS) with training criteria set by Northern Lights at the Community College of Vermont, and Vermont's Registered Child Care Apprenticeship Program issues a certificate of completion that qualifies a person as a center teacher associate or a licensed home provider.
T.E.A.C.H.
Early Childhood Vermont says it covers 100% of tuition and book fees plus a stipend, with sponsoring programs required to give paid release time — a lever when you sponsor a teacher's course load.
Our research did not confirm a Vermont startup grant for new operators; ask DCF CDD what is currently available.
What is changing in Vermont's daycare rules?
Vermont's CBCCPP rules were amended by a CDD memo effective October 1, 2024 to meet federal CCDF rules, and a full rule rewrite was in draft as of late 2025; CDD's proposed-rules page listed no final proposed rules when we checked.
Because a rewrite is in motion, confirm current requirements against CDD's rule pages before you apply or hire.
What This Page Does, and Doesn’t, Cover
This page summarizes the Vermont licensing rules, agency pages and other sources listed below, as read for this state-by-state daycare licensing steps series, current as of October 2026. It is not a substitute for the instructions the Vermont Department for Children and Families (DCF), Child Development Division (CDD) publishes. For the rest of the picture in Vermont, see daycare director requirements in Vermont and home daycare license requirements in Vermont.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a daycare license cost in Vermont?
Our research could not verify Vermont's fees: center application fees and any required pre-application orientation were not verified, and family child care registration and license fees and processing times were not verified either.
What the rules do fix is the term — a full center license is effective for three years per site.
Ask DCF's Child Development Division what fees currently apply to your operation type before you budget.
Do you need a license to run a home daycare in Vermont?
Yes, once you care for children from more than two families other than your own: Vermont requires registration or licensure by DCF's Child Development Division.
A registered home serves up to 10 children year-round (12 under the summer-vacation option); a licensed home serves up to 12 with staffing charts.
The requirement is keyed to the number of families, so confirm your exact situation with the Division before you enroll.
What qualifications does a daycare director need in Vermont?
Directors must be at least 21, and the bar rises with licensed capacity: up to 12 children, a director qualified as a teacher associate; 13 to 59, a teacher associate plus a Program Director Step One Certificate or 3 credits each in program management/supervision and curriculum; 60 or more, a director qualified as a teacher with 24 additional months of experience with children grade 3 or younger and a Step Two Certificate or Step Three Credential (or the credit alternative).
Centers licensed for 13 or more also need the budgeting course or a business manager (see above).
What is the infant ratio in a Vermont daycare center?
The CBCCPP ratio chart staffs infants from birth to 18 months at 1:4, with a maximum group size of 8.
Ratios ease with age — 1:10 for children from 36 months to kindergarten, in groups of up to 20 — and a mixed-age group must meet the ratio and group size of its youngest child.
How long does it take to get licensed in Vermont?
Our research did not capture a Vermont processing timeline.
Two fixed points: the Division must process background-check clearances within 45 days of the Vermont Crime Information Center receiving all documentation, and a full center license, once issued, is effective for three years.
Ask DCF's Child Development Division what timeline to expect for your operation type and site.
More Vermont Resources
Sources
- Vermont DCF CDD — Licensing Regulations for Center Based Child Care and Preschool Programs (retrieved 2026-10-05)
- Vermont DCF CDD — Licensing Regulations for Family Child Care Homes (retrieved 2026-10-05)
- Vermont DCF CDD — Memo on CBCCPP rule changes (effective October 1, 2024) (retrieved 2026-10-05)
- Vermont DCF CDD — STARS Final Adopted Rule (retrieved 2026-10-05)
- T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood Vermont (VTAEYC) (retrieved 2026-10-05)
Sourced from the documents listed above. Verified October 2026. This is career and employer information, not licensing or legal advice. Confirm current rules with the Vermont Department for Children and Families (DCF), Child Development Division (CDD).