Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 17, 1993 TAG: 9302170098
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BY WARREN FISKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
SHIFT THREATENS CHURCH DAY-CARE EXEMPTION
The law that has allowed church-run day-care centers to escape state inspection for 13 years appeared on the verge of collapse Tuesday as a Republican senator said she may break with her GOP colleagues and vote for its repeal."If the bill was up for a vote today, I'd vote for it," said Sen. Jane Woods, R-Fairfax. "One inspection a year doesn't bother me."
Woods voted twice earlier this month to keep religious centers free from state scrutiny.
Assuming no other votes change, a switch by Woods would create a tie when the Senate revisits the issue next week. That would allow Lt. Gov. Don Beyer, who favors inspections of church centers, to provide a majority for the legislation.
Last week, Senate Republicans unanimously teamed with two rural Democrats to defeat the proposal, 20-18. The House, however, approved a day-care reform bill that calls for church inspections. That bill now must be reviewed by the Senate.
Woods suggested that other Republicans also may change their votes.
"I think there was a truckload of confusion [about the bill]," she said. "People needed some time to figure the thing out."
Regulation of church-affiliated centers has been the most controversial part of a wide-ranging effort this year to overhaul Virginia's day-care laws. Many Republicans - joined by an assembly of fundamentalist Baptist churches - say inspections would infringe on religious freedom.
But supporters of regulation argue that churches should be required to meet minimum safety standards. The regulations proposed in the bill, they note, do not affect religious teachings in a church day-care center.
More than 80 percent of Virginia's 600,000 day-care children attend facilities unregulated by the state. One reason is that Virginia is among 10 states that exempt church day-care centers from licensing.
Church centers can avoid licensing by certifying to the state that they have a required ratio of staff to children and that all employees have passed health checkups. They also must pass local kitchen and fire inspections. About 270 churches - two-thirds of those offering day-care services - opt for the exemption.
The bill before the Senate would allow state inspectors to visit those centers once a year to verify information submitted by the churches. In addition, church-run centers would be be required to conduct criminal background checks on all employees, have someone on hand at all times trained in first aid and have all staff members wash their hands after changing diapers.
Even with those provisions, churches would be required to meet only a fraction of the rules imposed on for-profit centers. For example, they would not be required to remove asbestos from playrooms, have minimum training requirements for employees or ban spanking.
Before voting against the church inspections, Woods served on a day-care study commission that proposed the added regulations. In recent days, she has been heavily lobbied by groups supporting day-care reform.
"I know people have been working on her very hard," said state Sen. Stanley Walker, D-Norfolk, the patron of the bill. "We've got our fingers crossed."
Woods serves on a Senate committee that will consider the bill Friday. Her changed vote there would reverse the panel's 8-7 majority against church inspections.
She said she is hoping for a compromise to strip the bill of a requirement that church-run centers send a person trained in first aid on all field trips. She called the mandate "onerous," noting that public schools are not subject to the same requirement.
Even without that compromise, Woods said, she is inclined to support the bill. But "there's still a few days before Friday," she said. "Anything can happen."
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1993