ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, October 11, 1996 TAG: 9610110075
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ELIZABETH SIMPSON LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
A state council passed proposals for new child care regulations Thursday that would decrease educational requirements for lead teachers and directors of day care centers.
The proposed regulations, which still must be considered by state government officials, would remove a requirement that the staff employees in charge of child care classes have high school diplomas. Instead, the rules would require them to have 24 hours of training, an increase over the current eight hours.
The regulations also would delete a regulation that center directors have a college degree or 48 semester hours of college education, and instead allow them to have three years of experience in the field.
While nine members of the Child Day Care Council voted for the regulations, three members voted against them, citing concerns about the reduction in education requirements and the increase in the ratio of children to staff members.
The new regulations propose increasing the number of 4-year-olds whom one staff person can care for, from 12 children to 15.
The regulations would create a category, called a ``balanced mixed-age group,'' that would combine children of different ages, from 3 to 6 years, in one class. One staff person could care for up to 15 children in that type of arrangement. Current regulations would require a ratio of one staff person to 10 children in that type of setting, the ratio determined by the youngest child in the group.
One child care director who spoke during the public comment period found the new regulation regarding mixed age groups disturbing. ``It's an extremely dangerous precedent,'' said Susan Corbett, director of the Second Presbyterian Child Care Center in Richmond. ``It's a hideous ratio. You can't see that many children at one time.''
The three members who voted against the new regulations also had concerns about ratio and education.
``Education and training of these child care providers is the core and cornerstone of child care,'' said council member Sandra Carroll before voting against the changes.
But another council member, Vernon Holloman Jr., said he believes the education that child care providers receive at community colleges and universities is overrated.
``There's a clash between two different schools of thought here,'' said Holloman, who operates child care centers in Hampton, Newport News, Grafton and Williamsburg. ``Experience on the job has been discounted to the point of worthlessness, and I take objection to that. Some of the best people I have do not have college educations.''
The goal of the council, which is appointed by the governor, is to make state regulations less cumbersome and to remove parts of the code that interfere in ``private enterprise and in the lives of Virginia's citizens.''
Council members also said the streamlined regulations will increase the amount of child care available, a critical need during welfare reform.
Council member Bradley Marrs said he resented critics' charges that council members who own child care centers were lowering standards to ``line their own pockets.'' Rather, he said, the new regulations will increase competition for them.
The new regulations will now be sent to the state's secretary of Health and Human Services for review, and to the Department of Planning and Budget for an economic analysis.
Once those reviews are made, parents and other concerned community members will be invited to comment on the changes early next year.
The council may choose to make revisions after the hearings; a final 30-day public comment period will be held after that revision.
Chairwoman Sharon Jones said the regulations probably will be in effect by June 1998.
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