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

The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services licenses child care under the Montana Child Care Act and sets center staffing in ARM Title 37, chapter 96, the licensing rules effective May 1, 2025.

For centers — and for licensed drop-in child care facilities, which the same rule section covers — it sets child-to-staff ratios of 4:1 for children newborn through 11 months old, 6:1 at 12 through 23 months, 8:1 for two-year-olds, 10:1 for ages three through five, and 20:1 for ages six and over.

The ratios read the way the rule writes them: a 4:1 infant room is four infants for each staff member counted in ratio.

The table above pairs each band with its maximum group size.

Group size is the maximum number of children one group may hold, separate from the ratio.

Montana caps center groups at 12 children in each of the two youngest bands, newborn through 11 months and 12 through 23 months, then 16 for two-year-olds, 20 for ages three through five, and 40 for ages six and over.

Ratio and group size work together: a group at its cap still has to meet its band's ratio, which is what decides how many staff the room needs.

More children than the cap means more than one group, not a larger one.

Two provisions bend the table in daily operation.

When children of different ages are mixed in a center group, the ratio and group size for the youngest child in the group must be maintained, so even one infant pulls the whole room to the infant band and its group of 12.

Group sizes may be exceeded only at mealtimes, outdoor play, rest periods or large group activities such as assemblies.

Nap time is the second provision: for children two and over, a licensed center may double the child-to-staff ratio when at least half the children are sleeping, another staff member is on site and immediately available, group size and room capacity are not exceeded, and the staff member watching the nappers is not a trainee.

The nap-time provision covers children two and over, so it does not extend to rooms with children under two.

Montana names the roles that may be counted when a center works out its child-to-staff ratio: the director, site directors, lead teachers, teachers, substitutes and trainees.

Support staff and volunteers do not count toward the ratio, however many are in the building.

Volunteers must be at least 15, and they need background checks only if they will have unsupervised access to children.

Trainees do count, with limits: a trainee may not be left alone with children until the 30-day orientation training is done, and the trainee role cannot last longer than 90 days.

The qualifications each counting role must hold are a teacher-requirements question, not part of the ratio rule itself.

Homes run on different numbers from centers.

A family child care facility cares for three to eight children and a group child care facility for nine to 15, while a center is an out-of-home program for 16 or more.

Any provider serving seven or more children on a regular basis must be licensed or registered, and a provider caring for six or fewer children in a private residence need not register if they do not receive state child care subsidy payments.

Staffing follows one line rather than a table: family and group facilities serving mixed ages use an 8:1 ratio with no more than three children under two — with at least two staff members required with the group whenever more than three under-twos are present — facilities serving only under-twos use 4:1, and a group day-care home must have at least two caregivers at all times when more than eight children are present.

DPHHS may also approve overlap care, for example before- and after-school hours: children over three only, at most three hours a day, up to four extra children in a group facility and two in a family facility, at a 10:1 ratio.

These are illustrations of how Montana's table converts to staff on the floor, not a staffing plan for any center.

An infant room at its 12-child group cap runs 4:1, so it needs three staff counted in ratio.

A room of 12 children aged 12 through 23 months at 6:1 needs two, and a two-year-old room at its 16-child cap at 8:1 needs two.

A preschool room of 20 children aged three through five at 10:1 needs two.

Mixed ages change the math: a room of 3 infants and 9 preschoolers counts as 12 children at the infants' 4:1 band, so it takes three staff.

At nap time, once at least half that preschool room of 20 is asleep, the doubled ratio runs on one staff member on the floor — with another staff member on site and immediately available, group size and room capacity intact, and no trainee watching the room.

Licensed school-age care runs at a maximum of 20:1 for children five and over, with a maximum group size of 40 — the same numbers as a center's ages-six-and-over band.

A full school-age group of 40 at 20:1 takes two staff on the floor.

Licensing is looser at the top of the age range than at the bottom: drop-in child care facilities and school-age care facilities have the option of being licensed, though any provider serving seven or more children on a regular basis must be licensed or registered either way.

Montana's ratio table is new.

The state repealed its former licensing chapter, ARM Title 37, chapter 95, and adopted the current rules effective May 1, 2025, after a legislative committee objection delayed the 2024 adoption; DPHHS confirmed the May 1 date in a supplemental notice.

Older copies of the rules still circulate: some DPHHS PDFs and legal-summary sites still print the repealed chapter, including a legacy licensing requirements PDF still posted on the department's own licensing page.

A staffing plan built on the old chapter's numbers needs rechecking against the current table and confirmation with DPHHS Child Care Licensing.