Kansas Daycare Ratios: Staff-to-Child Ratios and Group Sizes by Age

Kansas sets center staff-to-child ratios in K.A.R. 28-4-428, the licensing rule for centers and preschools.

Infant units run at 1:3 with a maximum unit of 9 children, or at 1:4 with a maximum of 8.

Toddlers count 1:6 with a unit of 12, two-year-olds 1:7 with 14, and children from 2.5 years to school age 1:12 with 24.

School-age units run at 1:16 with a maximum of 32.

The rule's age bands follow the definitions in K.A.R. 28-4-420: an infant is 2 weeks to 12 months old, or older but not yet walking, and a toddler is a walking child 12 to 30 months old.

The table above lists every band with its maximum unit size.

Kansas sets a maximum unit size alongside every ratio; the unit is the rule's age grouping, such as an infant unit or a school-age unit.

The maximums run from 8 or 9 infants to 32 school-age children: 9 infants in a 1:3 unit or 8 at 1:4, 12 toddlers, 14 two-year-olds, 24 children from 2.5 years to school age, and 32 school-age children.

A mixed unit of infants and children under 6 caps at 12 children, with no more than 6 infants in the unit and no more than 3 infants for any one staff member.

The unit maximum is a ceiling on the group itself; it is not the staff count, which the ratio sets.

Mixed-age staffing has its own line in the Kansas table: a unit mixing infants with children under 6 runs at 1:6 with a maximum of 12 children, as long as no staff member has more than 3 infants and the unit holds no more than 6 infants.

Centers may also place a child in the next age unit up to 30 days before or after the child reaches that unit's minimum age, under a plan agreed with the parent.

On short absences, the rule lets a counted staff member leave the unit without a substitute for up to 5 minutes while another staff member remains in the room; absences of 5 to 20 minutes require a substitute.

Our research found no separate nap-time ratio in the Kansas center rules we reviewed, so confirm with KOEC how the ratios apply during rest time.

A Kansas unit is staffed by people the licensing rules count as staff.

Lead teachers must be at least 18, hold a high school diploma and meet one of the qualification options in K.A.R. 28-4-429; assistant teachers must be at least 16.

Staff who count in ratio must complete state-approved health and safety training before or within 30 days of hire, and pediatric first aid and pediatric CPR certification with a hands-on component within 30 days of hire.

Each unit must also have at least one staff member or volunteer counted in the ratio with current pediatric first aid and pediatric CPR certification present at all times, and counted staff and volunteers complete 16 clock-hours of professional development each licensure year, 4 of them in health and safety topics.

Volunteers may work in a center from age 14, but a volunteer counts in the staff-child ratio only from age 16.

Family child care homes are capped by a separate rule from the center table.

A licensed Kansas family child care home may serve up to 12 children under 16, with limits on the number under 5.

With one provider, the state's capacity tables cap the group at 10 children with no infants (up to 8 children aged 12 months to 5 years plus 2 school-age children) or with one infant (up to 6 children aged 12 months to 5 years plus 3 school-age children), and the total falls to 9 with two infants or 8 with three.

When every child is older, the caps are set by age: 10 children if all are 2.5 to 10 years, 11 if all are 3 to 10, and 12 if all are 5 to 10.

With two providers, the tables allow a group of 12 including up to 5 infants, and the provider's own children under 10 count toward the capacity.

The arithmetic translates directly into staff counts.

An infant unit at the 1:4 option, holding its maximum of 8 infants, needs two staff members on the floor; the same unit at 1:3, holding 9, needs three.

A toddler unit of 12 at 1:6 needs two staff, as do a two-year-old unit of 14 at 1:7, a unit of 24 children aged 2.5 years to school age at 1:12, and a school-age unit of 32 at 1:16.

These are illustrations of the rule's arithmetic, not a staffing plan for any particular center: every counted person still has to meet the training requirements above, each unit needs at least one person with current pediatric first aid and pediatric CPR certification present at all times, and absences of 5 to 20 minutes call for a substitute under the rule.

Confirm any specific schedule with KOEC.

Two recent changes matter for ratio planning in Kansas.

Since July 1, 2026, child care licensing has been run by the Kansas Office of Early Childhood (KOEC), created by 2025 House Bill 2045 and moved out of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment; KOEC says all existing child care licensing policies remain in effect during the transition.

House Bill 2045 also required the state to update its child care ratio regulations by October 1, 2025, per the legislative bill summary.

Our research could not confirm whether the ratio table itself has changed since; the ratios were not in the list of 2026 proposed amendments our review covered.

Confirm the current table with KOEC before you rely on any single figure on this page.