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

Utah center ratios run by age band in Table 1 of R381-100-10, the rule Child Care Licensing (CCL) in the Utah Department of Health and Human Services administers.

The bands are 1:4 for children 0-11 months, 1:4 for 12-17 months, 1:5 for 18-23 months, 1:8 for 2-year-olds, 1:12 for 3-year-olds, 1:15 for 4-year-olds and 1:20 for children 5 years and older.

Each ratio is the fewest caregivers a group can run on, so a full infant group of 8 puts at least 2 caregivers on the floor at 1:4.

The table above gives every band with its maximum group size.

Group size caps how many children one classroom can hold even when staffing is generous, and it is separate from the ratio.

Utah's maximums in Table 1 of R381-100-10 are 8 children for infants (0-11 months and 12-17 months), 10 for 18-23 months, 16 for 2-year-olds, 24 for 3-year-olds, 30 for 4-year-olds and 40 for children 5 years and older.

One exception exists in the rule: a center constructed, licensed and continuously operating since January 1, 2004 can be exempted from maximum group sizes if it meets the ratio and square-footage requirements.

Confirm any group-size question with CCL before you set classroom enrollment.

Nap time and mixed-age rooms change the math.

A Utah center may double the caregiver-to-child ratio during nap only if every child in the group is at least 18 months, all of the children are resting, and the supervising caregiver can reach another caregiver without leaving, so an infant room or any group with a child under 18 months never qualifies.

For mixed-age groups without infants or toddlers, the ratio is set by the oldest child's age group minus one child, and the group size by the oldest child's age group minus two.

Read on a room of 3- and 4-year-olds, that runs the group one child under the 1:15 four-year-old ratio and two children under the 30-child maximum.

For Utah center ratio purposes, a caregiver can be 16 or older, pass an Office of Background Processing check, complete the Office of Licensing's 2½-hour preservice training before working with children, and complete 20 hours of child care training each year.

Volunteers 16 and older and registered high school or college child care student interns can also count in Utah center ratios.

Staffing floors sit on top of the ratio: two caregivers are required whenever the only group on site has more than eight children, or more than two infants or toddlers.

At least one staff member with current pediatric first aid and CPR must also be present at the facility, on each offsite activity and in each vehicle.

The center table above does not govern homes: Utah's family child care rules sit in R430-90 (Licensed Family Child Care) and R430-50 (Residential Certificate Child Care).

Residential certificate child care covers eight or fewer qualifying children, or up to ten including the provider's own children, in the provider's home; a Licensed Family Child Care license is required for care of nine or more unrelated children, four or more hours a day, on a regular basis.

A licensed family child care home runs one caregiver for up to 8 children and two caregivers for 9-16; with children under 2 in care, the rule sets one caregiver per three under-2s and no more than two children under 18 months per caregiver.

Any home caring for more than ten children under 13 must be licensed, and a provider who is not required to be certified must care for no more than two children under 3 and register with the Office of Licensing for a background check.

Take a center running one room per age band at full enrollment, as an illustration of how the rule's numbers combine.

An infant room at its maximum group of 8 needs at least 2 caregivers at 1:4, because the ratio covers at most 4 infants per caregiver.

A 2-year-old room of 16 needs at least 2 caregivers at 1:8, and a 4-year-old room at its 30-child maximum needs 2 caregivers at 1:15.

The two-caregiver floor is the rule a single-group center runs into: a center whose only group on site is nine 3-year-olds needs two caregivers even though nine children sit inside the 1:12 ratio, because the rule requires two whenever the only group on site has more than eight children or more than two infants or toddlers.

Nap time changes a room's caregiver count, not its group size: the 24-child 3-year-old room that runs on 2 caregivers at 1:12 may run on 1 during nap only if every child is at least 18 months, all are resting and the supervising caregiver can reach another caregiver without leaving.