Jefferson City News

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Office of Childhood has completed its review of state child care licensing rules, following the requirements set by Executive Order 25-15. The order directed the department to reduce child care licensing regulations by 10 percent in an effort to eliminate duplication, clarify requirements, and provide better support for providers and families.

In its recommendations submitted to the Governor’s Office, DESE proposed several measures to improve the system. These include making rules more readable and usable, expediting the licensing process, simplifying language, improving organization and layout, and consolidating rulebooks.

Specifically, the department identified 79 rules in the family child care home rulebook and 98 rules in the child care center rulebook as duplicative, outdated, or unnecessary. If these are removed, it would result in an 11.6 percent reduction in family child care home requirements and a 12.17 percent reduction in child care center requirements.

The Office of Childhood provided its Implementation Report to the Governor’s Office on August 29.

“The Implementation Report lays the foundation for a modern, efficient Missouri child care licensing system,” said Commissioner of Education Dr. Karla Eslinger. “A system that reduces red tape, supports providers, and puts children’s health and safety first.”

To develop these recommendations, DESE held 14 listening sessions across Missouri, formed a stakeholder task force with 35 members, and gathered nearly 1,000 survey responses from interested parties.

“I want to thank all of the child care providers and stakeholders who supported this work and participated in our listening sessions to ensure our work was meaningful,” said Commissioner Eslinger.

DESE plans to begin a comprehensive review aimed at creating a unified rulebook with clear distinctions for different provider types. The new draft rules will use plain language.